Allergan Agrees to Settle Whistleblower Case
filed by Watkins, Lourie, Roll & Chance, PC
Allergan Inc. will pay $600 million to settle a federal investigation into its marketing of Botox. The company will plead guilty to one misdemeanor charge of "misbranding," in which the company's marketing led physicians to use Botox for unapproved uses. Those included the treatment of headache, pain, spasticity and cerebral palsy in children. Companies are prohibited from promoting drugs for unapproved, or "off-label," uses. Allergan will pay $375 million in connection with the criminal plea. Additionally, the company will pay $225 million to settle the civil False Claims Act case.
Watkins, Lourie, Roll & Chance, PC and our co-counsel at Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore, LLP represent the relators in the False Claims Act case. Our clients have asked us to express their deep admiration and gratitude to the attorneys and investigators at the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia, the Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Atlanta Field Office, and the attorneys at the Department of Justice in Washington who worked so hard on this case and produced such an excellent result. Their diligence and professionalism vindicated our clients' decision to speak about the misconduct they had witnessed. Our clients hope that cases like this will encourage others to step forward when they see misconduct that costs the taxpayers money.
Watkins, Lourie, Roll & Chance, PC shares our clients gratitude for the excellent work performed by the United States Attorneys and Special Agents. We are humbled by our clients' courage and their confidence in us, and we are very proud of and impressed by the work performed by John Floyd, Ben Fox, and their associates and staff at Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore, LLP. We are privileged to partner with such fine attorneys.
