President Obama has called today’s announcement unpatriotic due to the fact that the inversion process, merging a smaller foreign company with a larger one, will save both companies money, but will simultaneously effect our economy BIG TIME.

This comment should be of no moment to either company: The actions of these two pharmaceutical giants have cost us before. Pfizer and Allergan have been accused of violating the False Claims Act and subsequently paid extraordinarily hefty fines while not admitting to anything. Pfizer has paid $2.3 billion, the largest health care fraud settlement in the history of the Department of Justice to resolve criminal and civil liability arising from the illegal promotion of drugs including Bextra, Geodon, Zyvox and Lyrica. Allergan, Inc. paid $225 million to resolve civil allegations that it unlawfully promoted its drug Botox^® Therapeutic for unapproved uses and that it paid illegal remuneration to healthcare providers to induce them to prescribe Botox. In addition, the company paid a $375 million criminal fine and pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of introducing this misbranded drug into interstate commerce. Nolan Auerbach & White represented two of the whistleblowers in this case, which was brought under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act.

But here is the good news. Whistleblowers are exemplary patriots. They are the ones who expose wrongdoing. Thanks to them, patients have been helped and billions have been returned to the U.S. Treasury. Now THAT is patriotic.

More information for potential whistleblowers is located at the Nolan Auerbach & White website.