WASHINGTON — Swiss drug-making giant Novartis paid doctors kickbacks to boost the sales of three of its products by holding ‘educational events’ on fishing trips and at Hooters restaurants that were little more than parties, the federal government has alleged.

The Justice Department filed a lawsuit in federal court against the U.S. division of Novartis, saying the drug company violated the federal Anti-Kickback Statute from January 2001 to at least November 2011.

Specifically, the East Hanover, N.J., company paid physicians to speak about three Novartis drugs — hypertension drugs amlodipine/benazepril (Lotrel) and aliskiren/valsartan (Valturna) and diabetes drug nateglinide (Starlix) — ‘at events that were often little or nothing more than social occasions for the doctors,’ the Justice Department said in a news release Friday.

Such programs should have an educational purpose and include a slide presentation about the company’s drugs. But the events were nothing more than lavish dinners or trips — such as fishing trips off the Florida coast — with little record of product education ever occurring, the whistle-blower-initiated lawsuit stated. Some events were held at Hooters restaurants.