Amgen 2011 Annual Report Download - page 173

AMGEN INC.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (Continued)
Pursuant to the parties’ stipulation, the Ramos matter has been stayed pending the outcome of the Harris matter
appeal. Oral argument before the Ninth Circuit Court on the plaintiffs’ appeal of the California Central District
Court’s dismissal of the plaintiffs’ claims occurred on May 8, 2009. On July 14, 2009, the Ninth Circuit Court
reversed the California Central District Court’s decision and remanded the case back to the district court. In the
meantime, a third ERISA class action was filed by Don Hanks on June 2, 2009 in the California Central District
Court alleging the same ERISA violations as in the Harris and Ramos lawsuits.
On October 13, 2009, the California Central District Court granted plaintiffs Harris’ and Ramos’ motion to
be appointed interim co-lead counsel. Plaintiffs filed an amended complaint on November 11, 2009 and added
two additional plaintiffs, Jorge Torres and Albert Cappa. Amgen filed a motion to dismiss the amended/
consolidated complaint, and on March 2, 2010, the California Central District Court dismissed the entire lawsuit
without prejudice. Plaintiffs filed an amended complaint on March 23, 2010. Amgen then filed another motion to
dismiss on April 20, 2010. On June 16, 2010, the California Central District Court entered an order dismissing
the entire lawsuit with prejudice. On June 24, 2010, the plaintiffs filed a notice of appeal with the Ninth Circuit
Court. Petitioner’s opening brief was served on December 20, 2010 and Amgen’s answering brief was filed on
February 2, 2011. Oral argument occurred on February 17, 2012.
Government Investigations and Qui Tam Actions
On May 10, 2007, Amgen received a subpoena from the Attorney General of the State of New York seeking
documents related to Amgen’s promotional activities, sales and marketing activities, medical education, clinical
studies, pricing and contracting, license and distribution agreements and corporate communications. Amgen fully
cooperated in responding to the subpoena.
Beginning in late 2007, Amgen received a number of subpoenas from the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the
Eastern District of New York and the Western District of Washington, pursuant to the Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act (18 U.S.C. 3486), for broad production of documents relating to its products
and clinical trials. Amgen fully cooperated with the government’s document requests. Over the next several
years, numerous current and former Amgen employees received civil and grand jury subpoenas to provide
testimony on a wide variety of subjects. We refer herein to these investigations being conducted by the U.S.
Attorney’s Offices for the Eastern District of New York and the Western District of Washington as the Federal
Investigations.
On January 14, 2008, Amgen received a subpoena from the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office for
production of documents relating to one of its products. Amgen completed its response per the terms of the
subpoena.
A U.S. government filing in the Massachusetts District Court concerning the partially unsealed complaint
filed pursuant to the Qui Tam provisions of the Federal Civil False Claims Act and on behalf of 17 named states
and the District of Columbia under their respective State False Claims Acts (the Massachusetts Qui Tam Action)
became public on or about May 7, 2009. The filing stated that the relator in the Massachusetts Qui Tam Action is
a former Amgen employee. Further, the filing represented that, in addition to the Massachusetts Qui Tam Action,
there were nine other actions under the False Claim Act pending under seal against Amgen, including eight
pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York and one pending in the U.S. District
Court for the Western District of Washington (together, the Qui Tam Actions). In the filing made public on
May 7, 2009, the U.S. government represented that these ten Qui Tam Actions alleged that Amgen engaged in a
wide variety of illegal marketing practices with respect to various Amgen products and that these were joint civil
and criminal investigations being conducted by a wide variety and large number of federal and state agencies.
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