Biogen finalizes $900 million drug kickback settlement

The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Monday that Biogen Inc. has struck a $900 million deal to resolve a whistleblower case that accused the biotech company of paying kickbacks to doctors who prescribed multiple sclerosis drugs.

The settlement closes a lengthy whistleblower action filed in Boston federal court by a former government employee. Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) disclosed in July that a potential settlement had been reached, pending government clearance.

According to his attorney, Thomas Greene, former employee Michael Bawduniak will receive $266,4 million for pursuing the action. Greene noted that this sum surpasses all previous records for whistleblower payouts in the United States.

Cambridge is located in Massachusetts As part of the agreement, Biogen did not acknowledge guilt. Biogen indicated in a statement that the corporation "believes that its goals and conduct have always been legitimate and appropriate."

From 2009 to 2014, Biogen was suspected of paying doctors millions of dollars in kickbacks to prescribe Avonex, Tysabri, and Tecfidera for multiple sclerosis. According to the lawsuit, the payments included "false" consulting deals and speaker programs, as well as lavish dinners and entertainment.

Allegedly, the scam resulted in the filing of false claims for payment to the federal healthcare programs Medicare and Medicaid.

Bawduniak filed the lawsuit in 2012 under the False Claims Act, which empowers whistleblowers to sue companies on behalf of the government to recover fraudulently obtained taxpayer monies.

The Justice Department may intervene in such situations and alleviate them itself following an investigation; however, it declined to do so in Bawduniak's case in 2015, allowing him to pursue the matter on his own.

His attorney, Greene, has described the settlement as the greatest recovery in over 150 years of False Claims Act cases won by a whistleblower without government intervention.