Judge Dismisses Drug Kickback Lawsuit Against Eli Lilly, Allows for Repleading

A federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas dismissed Health Choice Alliance (HCA)’s claims that Eli Lilly and four healthcare companies — VMS, Healthstar, Covance and UBC — engaged in an illegal kickback scheme.

HCA alleged that the five defendants were knowingly involved in a scheme in which Lilly gave “unlawful, substantial kickbacks” to the prescribers in return for prescribing tens of thousands of patients Lilly products with no basis on patient-specific information or clinical efficacy.

The judge found that the group’s claims were not strong enough, as it did not “set forth facts alleging an agreement to conspire,” and recommended its conspiracy claims be dismissed without prejudice while leaving HCA a twenty day window to refile.