San Francisco, California - The former president and CEO of OtisMed Corporation was sentenced today to serve two years in prison for intentionally distributing a medical device used in knee replacement surgery after its application for marketing clearance had been rejected by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Department of Justice announced.
Charlie Chi, 46, of San Francisco, pleaded guilty in December 2014 to three counts of distributing adulterated medical devices in interstate commerce in violation of the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) after having been told by the FDA, legal counsel and his own board of directors not to do so. U.S. District Judge Claire C. Cecchi in Newark, New Jersey, delivered Chi’s 24-month sentence today and also ordered him to serve one year of supervised release and to pay a $75,000 fine. In September 2014, Judge Cecchi sentenced OtisMed Corporation, now a subsidiary of Stryker Corporation, to a criminal fine of $34.4 million and ordered the company to pay $5.16 million in criminal forfeiture. Stryker acquired the company after the criminal conduct for which he was sentenced today. In a related civil settlement, OtisMed agreed to pay approximately $41.2 million, including interest, to resolve its civil liability for submitting false claims to the Medicare, TRICARE, Federal Employees Health Benefits and Medicaid programs.
“Today’s sentencing of OtisMed’s CEO ought to send a clear message to others in positions of authority within the medical device and pharmaceutical industries: the Department of Justice will vigorously prosecute not only corporations, but also the individuals at their helm who are responsible for endangering public health and safety in pursuit of profit,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.
“The defendant betrayed the trust of patients whose doctors were using his unapproved surgical device for a serious medical procedure,” said U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman of the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of New Jersey. “With everything else people have to deal with when they are facing surgery, they shouldn’t have to worry whether their doctor is using equipment that has been approved for use. The punishment meted out to Chi and his company is appropriate.”
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
In August 2005, Chi was among the founders of OtisMed and conceived of the OtisKnee orthopedic cutting guide, its primary product. Chi acted as OtisMed’s president, CEO and chairman of its board of directors until OtisMed was acquired by Stryker in November 2009. The OtisKnee was used by surgeons during total knee arthroplasty (TKA), commonly known as knee replacement surgery. The surgical procedure requires a surgeon to remove the ends of the leg bones and to reshape the remaining bone to accommodate the implantation of an artificial knee prosthesis. The cuts to the bone must be made at precise angles because they are critical to the clinical result; failure to achieve the correct angle in TKA procedures can result in failure of the bones and/or the implanted prosthetic joint.
OtisMed marketed the OtisKnee cutting guide as a tool to assist surgeons in making bone cuts specific to individual patients’ anatomy based on MRIs performed prior to surgery. None of OtisMed’s claims regarding the OtisKnee device were evaluated by the FDA before the company used them in advertisements and promotional material.
Between May 2006 and September 2009, OtisMed sold more than 18,000 OtisKnee devices, generating revenue of approximately $27.1 million.
On Oct. 2, 2008, OtisMed submitted a pre-market notification to the FDA seeking clearance to market the OtisKnee. The company had not previously sought the FDA’s clearance or approval and had been falsely representing to physicians and other potential purchasers that the product was exempt from such pre-market requirements.
On Sept. 2, 2009, the FDA sent OtisMed a notice that its submission had been denied, noting that the company had failed to demonstrate that the OtisKnee was as safe and effective as other legally marketed devices. The letter warned OtisMed that distribution of the OtisKnee prior to approval would be an FDCA violation, and indicated the FDA viewed the product as part of a “significant risk device system,” which is defined as presenting a potential for serious risk to the health, safety or welfare of a subject. Chi and others at OtisMed received advice from legal and regulatory counsel confirming it would be unlawful for OtisMed to continue distributing the OtisKnee.
Though the board of directors unanimously decided to stop further shipments of the devices, Chi was concerned that inconveniencing surgeons planning to use the OtisKnee in scheduled surgeries would exacerbate the negative impact of the FDA letter on the reputation of OtisMed and the device. Chi directed OtisMed employees to organize a mass shipment of all OtisKnee devices that had been manufactured but had not yet been shipped and suggested ways for the employees to hide the shipments from FDA regulators.
At Chi’s direction, OtisMed shipped approximately 218 OtisKnee guides from California to surgeons throughout the United States, including 16 to surgeons in New Jersey, a week after the FDA expressly denied OtisMed’s request for clearance.
“With more than 600,000 knee replacements performed each year, patients rely on FDA to help ensure that the devices are safe and work as intended,” said Director George M. Karavetsos of the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations. “When manufacturers ignore FDA requirements, they risk endangering patients’ health and quality of life. We will continue to protect the public health by bringing to justice those who disregard FDA regulations.”
Chi’s sentence marks the culmination of a long-term investigation conducted jointly by the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Antoinette V. Henry, and the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Scott J. Lampert. Counsel to the HHS-OIG and FDA’s Office of Chief Counsel to the FDA also assisted. The National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units, along with the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, assisted in coordinating the settlements with the various states.
The government is represented by Chief Jacob T. Elberg of the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of New Jersey Health Care and Government Fraud Unit and Trial Attorney Ross S. Goldstein of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch.
U.S. Attorney Fishman reorganized the health care fraud practice at the New Jersey U.S. Attorney’s Office shortly after taking office, including creating a stand-alone Health Care and Government Fraud Unit to handle both criminal and civil investigations and prosecutions of health care fraud offenses. Since 2010, the office has recovered more than $635 million in health care fraud and government fraud settlements, judgments, fines, restitution and forfeiture under the False Claims Act, the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and other statutes.
