United States ex rel. Ven-A-Care of the Florida Keys, Inc. v. Bristol Myers Squibb Co.

Berger Montague represented the whistleblower, Ven-A-Care of the Florida Keys, Inc., a small pharmacy from Key West, Florida. The case included allegations that Bristol submitted false and inflated Average Wholesale Prices (“AWPs”) for a number of its oncology and generic drugs. Bristol knew that the Medicare and Medicaid programs used AWPs for reimbursement of providers. These inflated prices created a “spread” between the reimbursement amount from the government and the actual prices for the drugs in the marketplace and thus an unlawful incentive to providers to choose defendants’ drugs.

In September 2007, the United States settled the case, along with several other cases, against the defendants (alleging kickbacks and off-label marketing). Bristol and its subsidiary Apothecon (see companion case against Apothecon also brought by Berger Montague) agreed to pay over $515 million in a global settlement to resolve the cases.