Mealey's ( March 15, 2023, 10:16 AM EDT) -- SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal magistrate judge granted dismissal to pharmaceutical companies in a qui tam suit filed against them by a relator asserting that the companies misled the U.S. Patent Office into issuing invalid drug patents that allowed the companies to overcharge the federal government and states under certain programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, finding that the relator does not qualify as an original source under the federal False Claims Act (FCA) and that his claims “are therefore barred under the public disclosure bar.”...