In a warning to life sciences companies, the U.S. Department of Justice last week issued a new directive for combating fraud that made a point of noting the agency will pursue violations of a federal law that tightly regulates the pharmaceutical industry.
Typically, the agency has pursued health fraud cases centered on providers, clinics, home health agencies, and hospices. By expressly including the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act in the directive, the National Fraud Enforcement Division appears to be placing drug and device makers, among others, more clearly in its crosshairs.
“This is a subtle but significant expansion of their jurisdiction,” said Kevin Lowell, a member of the Miller & Chevalier law firm, who spent a decade at the DOJ, where he most recently had been a deputy chief in the National Fraud Enforcement Division’s health care fraud section.
