US Court Rejects Novartis’s Appeal in Whistleblower Case

July 26, 2022

New Jersey’s Superior Court, Appellate Division, has rejected Novartis’s appeal of a 2019 verdict in a case against a former executive turned whistleblower. Min Amy Guo, then executive director of the company’s health economics and outcomes research team, was fired in 2013 after expressing concerns that a cancer drug study would violate laws preventing kickbacks. She filed suit the following year and five years later a New Jersey court ruled Novartis was guilty of retaliation and must pay Guo $1.8 million in damages.

In this week’s decision, the judges stated, “We reject, as did the trial judge, defendant’s assertion that the proofs were insufficient to establish plaintiff’s reasonable belief that the law was being violated. Plaintiff’s testimony and documentary evidence showed that she had specifically voiced to Wu and Lucas her belief that the McKesson study was a kickback that violated the CIA (corporate integrity agreement), which in turn was designed to ensure compliance with the AKS (Anti-Kickback Statute).”

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