AngioDynamics To Pay $12.5 Mln To Resolve False Claims Act Allegations

(RTTNews) - New York-based medical device manufacturer AngioDynamics, Inc. has agreed to pay the United States a total of $12.5 million to resolve allegations that the company caused healthcare providers to submit false claims to Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal healthcare programs relating to the use of two medical devices, LC Bead and the Perforator Vein Ablation Kit (PVAK), the U.S.Justice Department announced today.

AngioDynamics will pay $11.5 million to resolve allegations that the company caused false claims to be submitted to government healthcare programs for procedures involving an unapproved drug-delivery device that was marketed with false and misleading promotional claims.

The government alleged that, from May 2006 through December 2011, AngioDynamics served as the U.S. distributor for Biocompatibles plc, the manufacturer of LC Bead, and marketed LC Bead for use as a drug-delivery device in combination with chemotherapy drugs. Moreover, AngioDynamics personnel routinely claimed that this particular use of LC Bead, which FDA had twice declined to approve, was "better", "superior", "safer" and "less toxic" than alternative treatments, even though there was insufficient clinical evidence to support the truthfulness of these claims.

The government also alleged that AngioDynamics was aware that many insurers declined to provide coverage for certain LC Bead procedures and, as a result, instructed healthcare providers to use inaccurate billing codes when submitting claims for such uses. The federal share of the civil settlement is approximately $10.9 million, and the state Medicaid share of the civil settlement is approximately $600,000. The government previously resolved related criminal and civil claims against Biocompatibles in November 2016.

AngioDynamics will separately pay $1 million to resolve allegations that the company caused false claims to be submitted to federal healthcare programs in connection with the use of the PVAK, later renamed the 400 micron kit. In 2008, AngioDynamics acquired the PVAK as part of a product suite that utilizes a laser to close or collapse malfunctioning veins.