International Nephrology Network (INN), a subsidiary of AmerisourceBergen Corporation, paid $15 million to the United States and the States to settle its civil False Claims Act liability in connection with its role in systematically promoting “overfill billing” for the drug Aranesp® with co-defendant Amgen Inc. This settlement was announced on the same day as the record $762 million Amgen settlement (see related Amgen settlement).
As with Amgen, relator and her team of attorneys litigated the case against INN for over two years while the government continued its civil and criminal investigation. During discovery, documents and deposition testimony confirmed that INN, in conspiracy with Amgen, had used overfill to entice physicians to choose Aranesp based on the promise of increased Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement for the overfill. Like Amgen, INN settled on the eve of trial of relator’s case in Boston.
Several co-counsel assisted in this litigation, which was styled as: