PLYMOUTH MEETING, PA — Eric L. Young of Young Law Group, P.C., announced that private equity firm Belhealth Investment Partners, its principals, and their portfolio companies, Linden Care and Quick Care, have agreed to pay $9 Million to settle alleged False Claims Act violations in a qui tam complaint first filed by YLG in 2016.
After the Department of Justice declined to intervene in the case, YLG was joined by Kang Haggerty, LLC, Richard J. Hollawell & Associates, and Miller Shah, LLP, in successfully resolving claims alleging that Defendants unlawfully distributed Subsys, a potent, rapid-onset fentanyl sublingual spray, in violation of the Controlled Substances Act.
YLG filed the original qui tam complaint against Insys Therapeutics, Inc. and Linden Care LLC in 2016. The government intervened in this case in 2018 only as to the claims against Defendant Insys, the well-known defunct manufacturer of Subsys. YLG and Kang Haggerty’s amended complaint alleged that between 2013 through at least 2016, mail order specialty pharmacies Linden Care and Quick Care, under Belhealth’s control and direction, dispensed thousands of Subsys prescriptions nationwide to government healthcare programs for widespread off-label and non-medically accepted uses, despite the known high potential for abuse of the drug.
“The egregiousness of defendants’ misconduct motivated us to aggressively pursue the case against Linden Care and Belhealth despite the Government’s decision not to intervene in the case,” said Eric L. Young. Young added, “This case serves as a tragic reminder of how corporate greed has fueled the opioid epidemic that has devastated the lives of so many Americans and their families.”
Young emphasized that, in recent years, qui tam plaintiffs have increased efforts to hold private equity firms accountable under the False Claims Act. “Thankfully, False Claims Act plaintiffs, including the Department of Justice, may be more likely to pursue cases against private equity firms when there is evidence that the firm was actively involved in the company’s day-to-day operations, knew about the alleged fraud, but did nothing to stop it. We are pleased that the successful outcome of our case will provide additional legal support for these efforts”, Young stated.
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