Drug & Device News

In its response to whistleblower claims filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Allergan ' the pharmaceuticals company best known for producing Botox ' says allegations that it illegally induced ophthalmologists to prescribe its eye-care products are “baseless.” Among the company's eye-care products is the well-advertised prescription medication Restasis. The complaint was brought by relators Dr. Herbert Nevyas and Dr. Anita Nevyas-Wallace, both Pennsylvania ophthalmologists, who claim that “[a]s a direct result of defendant's improper practices, federal and state health insurance programs … have been caused to pay false or fraudulent claims for reimbursement of the defendant's prescription drugs that resulted from defendant's illegal kickbacks.” In support of its motion to dismiss, Allergan countered, in papers filed June 30, that the relators had advanced a “peculiar and baseless theory of liability, where the primary allegation is that Allergan openly advertised and charged eye care practices in the amount of several hundreds of dollars on an annual basis for product and practice management consultative services and that this program somehow constitutes an unlawful kickback scheme.”