Novartis Wins Dismissal of Action Alleging False Claims Acts Violations

On September 13, 2022, Judge Kimba M. Wood of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled in favor of Cravath client Novartis, dismissing with prejudice a third amended complaint filed by Relator Steven M. Camburn. In the complaint, Relator asserted claims under the False Claims Act and analogous state laws based on Novartis’s promotion of the multiple sclerosis drug Gilenya.

The lawsuit was originally filed under seal on May 31, 2013. After investigation, the United States Department of Justice declined to intervene and the complaint was unsealed on September 1, 2017. Cravath succeeded in dismissing the First Amended Complaint in March 2020, after which Relator twice amended the complaint.

The Third Amended Complaint, like the previous complaints, alleged that Novartis operated a nationwide kickback scheme whereby Novartis improperly induced physicians to prescribe Gilenya through the use of speaker events and other promotional and educational activities. The Court dismissed the Third Amended Complaint, as it had the earlier complaint, for failing to plead the existence of a kickback scheme with sufficient particularity, and this time with prejudice.

The Cravath team included partner Evan R. Chesler and associates Kathryn E. Bolas, Katherine A. DuBois, and Emma K. Kolesar.

The case is United States et al. ex rel. Camburn v. Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, No. 1:13-cv-3700 (KMW) (GWG) (S.D.N.Y.).