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Biggest drug company settlement: $2.3 billion
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of New York Times
Posted: September 5th, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/business/03health.html
The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer agreed to pay $2.3 billion to settle civil and criminal allegations that it had illegally marketed its painkiller Bextra, which has been withdrawn. It was the largest health care fraud settlement and the largest criminal fine of any kind ever. The settlement had been expected. Pfizer, which is acquiring a rival, Wyeth, reported in January that it had taken a $2.3 billion charge to resolve claims involving Bextra and other drugs. It was Pfizers fourth settlement over illegal marketing activities since 2002. The government charged that executives and sales representatives throughout Pfizers ranks planned and executed schemes to illegally market not only Bextra but also Geodon, an antipsychotic; Zyvox, an antibiotic; and Lyrica, which treats nerve pain. While the government said the fine was a record sum, the $2.3 billion fine amounts to less than three weeks of Pfizers sales. Much of the activities cited Wednesday occurred while Pfizer was in the midst of resolving allegations that it illegally marketed Neurontin, an epilepsy drug for which the company in 2004 paid a $430 million fine and signed a corporate integrity agreement a companywide promise to behave. John Kopchinski, a former Pfizer sales representative whose complaint helped prompt the governments Bextra case, said that company managers told him and others to dismiss concerns about the Neurontin case while pushing them to undertake similar illegal efforts on behalf of Bextra. The whole culture of Pfizer is driven by sales, and if you didnt sell drugs illegally, you were not seen as a team player, said Mr. Kopchinski.
Note: For lots more on corporate corruption, click here. For a powerful article on the immense political power of pharmaceutical companies by one of the top MDs in the U.S., click here.
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