Tasigna Atherosclerosis Lawsuit News

Ex-Novartis Salesmanager Blows The Whistle On Illegal Drug Marketing

Whistleblower lawsuit against Novartis helps to shed light on the lengths drug companies go to sell their product

Monday, November 13, 2017 - Not only is Swiss Pharmaceutical company Novartis under fire for failing to warn the American cancer community of the atherosclerosis risks of its drug Tasigna, it also has been the target of an investigation pertaining to illegally marketing and prescribing the anti-cancer drug. As a result of paying pharmacists illegal cash incentives to refill Gleevec prescriptions with Tasigna, Novartis AG was forced to pay $390 million to the federal government to settle a $3.35 billion dollar suit brought by the U.S. During the years 2007 and 2012, marketing representatives from Novartis made payments to specialty pharmacies offering them incentives to steer their Medicare and Medicaid patients towards the more profitable, expensive and dangerous drug Tasigna. Tasigna has been the target of lawsuits recently alleging that cancer patients taking the drug were not warned that they may develop atherosclerosis as a common side effect. In addition to paying the fine Novartis agreed to admit the details of how the alleged fraudulent scheme worked.

The nature of the scheme targeted specialty pharmacies. A specialty pharmacy differs from a typical retail pharmacy by selling drugs that are more costly and more toxic, typically for patients with life-threatening illnesses like cancer, and drugs that require special handling. The specialty medications in question include the oncology medications Exjade, Gleevec and Tasigna.

Novartis created a network of specialty pharmacies asking pharmacists to sell Novartis drugs over competitors and to downplay the Novartis drug's side effects. Novartis ran contests for the pharmacies and kept score to see who could keep their patients on Novartis drugs for the longest time. It is illegal for doctors and pharmacists to engage in incentive programs and profit from recommending one drug over another based on financial reward. Doing so can cause a patient to order a drug that is unnecessary or unsuitable to treat their condition and could lead to injury and potentially death.

Novartis' illegal marketing and kickback scheme was exposed to the public when company employee turned whistleblower, former Novartis sales manager David M. Kestner sued Novartis under the False Claims Act. The False Claims Act encourages employees of corporations to come forward with insider information about illegal corporate activities. After reviewing Kester's story, an 18-month investigation ensued and Kester and his attorneys worked alongside government attorneys to investigate and litigate the allegations. The action brought by Kester resulted in over $400 million in total recovery to the U.S. taxpayer and resulted in Kester winning the "Whistleblower of the Year" Award in 2016 presented by the non-profit, public interest organization Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund. As a result of the investigation and lawsuit cancer patients have become more aware that there are safer, less expensive alternatives to Tasigna on the market and have been alerted to Tasigna's dangerous atherosclerosis side effects.

Novartis still faces hundreds of Tasigna lawsuits stemming from the side effects experienced by patients using the drug, most of which experienced severe atherosclerosis.

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