This litigation involves claims of unfair competition and tortious interference under nine different states’ laws, where the claims are based, in part, upon alleged violations of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS), 42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7b(b), and Stark law (“Stark”), 42 U.S.C. § 1395nn(a). Our Georgia business and healthcare law firm follows legal developments in the world of healthcare.
This particular dispute is between Ameritox Ltd and Millenium Laboratories, Inc. These laboratories are competitors in the drug-screening/testing marketplace. Each sells to physician practices and other healthcare providers products and services that facilitate analysis of patient drug use, including point-of-care (POCT) cups. POCT cups are used by physician practices to collect and store urine samples. Additionally, POCT cups contain chemically activated strips that indicate the presence of particular drugs in the patient’s system. POCT cups thereby facilitate “qualitative testing,” informative of patients’ drug use. Such information is very limited, however; it does not, for example, reveal the precise quantity of a drug in the patient’s system. To obtain more meaningful information about the patient, a doctor must send the POCT cup to a clinical laboratory, for “confirmatory testing.” These two laboratories compete for that business.