After paying $600 million to settle off-label marketing claims, Allergan agreed to drop its First Amendment challenges to the FDA’s off-label promotion rules. Now Allergan is being sued again, this time by Caryatid, LLC. Key points:
- Qui tam trolls! Caryatid, LLC is “engaged in the business (among others) of acquiring information regarding, and investigating alleged violations” of the False Claims Act. File this under Tyler Cowan’s “Markets in Everything”
- Expect Allergan to revive its First Amendment challenge to the off-label promotion restrictions (NEJM coverage yesterday)
- Caryatid also claims a violation of the anti-kickback statute when Allergan gave “patient care kits” to doctors in return for prescribing Allergan products. On this third claim, a First Amendment defense to kickbacks is harder to make without snark, but if this is a kickback, why aren’t all free drug samples kickbacks when doctors are being datamined?
h/t to Ed at Pharmalot
