Irvine-based Allergan Inc. has received a government subpoena in regard to its Lap-Band weight-loss device, the company said in a federal filing.
Allergan said in its filing that it received the subpoena from the Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General this month.
Lap-Band, which is an adjustable silicon band that reduces the amount of food a person’s stomach can hold, accounted for $203 million of Allergan’s $5.42 billion in revenue last year. Allergan got the device in its 2006 purchase of Santa Barbara-based Inamed Corp.
Some members of the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this year called for hearings on various medical devices, including the Lap-Band, after an article in the Archives of Surgery medical journal showed that almost half of patients that have gastric bands did not lose weight or needed to have the device removed after six years.
