There will be no second chance for a dismissed False Claims Act case pursued by a whistleblower and numerous government entities alleging the maker of Avastin suppressed data about the cancer drug, a federal appeals court has decided.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld the dismissal of relator Gerasimos Petratos' case against Genentech Inc. on the grounds that Petratos failed to state a claim under the act. Petratos was joined in the case—originally filed in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey—by the U.S. government, the District of Columbia and 26 states.

Petratos claimed Genentech concealed information about the drug's health risks in its reports to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. As a result, he alleged, doctors submitted more Medicare reimbursements than they would have if they had known the side effect risks, which Petratos argued would have resulted in prescribing lower dosages.