Novartis has to face the Gilenya bribery allegations again

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• The pharmaceutical company Novartis will probably have to stand trial again in the USA.
• The pharmaceutical company, headquartered in Basel, is accused of making kickback payments to doctors to promote Gilenya to patients.
• The decision by the Court of Appeal on Friday overturned a dismissal of the case by a US District Court in Manhattan in September 2022.

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The pharmaceutical company headquartered in Basel is accused of making kickback payments to doctors to promote Gilenya to patients. According to the allegation, Novartis violated the federal False Claims Act by holding fictitious organized lecture events to promote the sale of Gilenya.

The case was triggered by former Novartis representative Stephen Camburn. He claims that Novartis paid doctors thousands of dollars and invited them to dinners in upscale restaurants to appear at the events. In this way, state health insurers such as Medicare were defrauded, the report continued.

Dismissed lawsuit comes before the court again

The decision by the Court of Appeal on Friday reversed a dismissal of the lawsuit from September 2022 by a US District Court in Manhattan and sent the case back to that court. Camburn had already sued Novartis in May 2013, and his allegations were dismissed by a court for the first time in spring 2020.

Novartis has not yet commented on the latest developments in this whistleblower case. The MS drug Gilenya remains one of the most important sales drivers for Novartis. In 2023, the Group generated global sales of just under one billion US dollars with it, out of total sales of 45.4 billion. However, Gilenya sales have declined significantly compared to previous years.