Pfizer to pay $2.3 bn to settle marketing charges

[OhioChick]

Source: Reuters

2 Sep 2009, 2048 hrs IST, REUTERS


WASHINGTON/NEW YORK: Pfizer Inc agreed on Wednesday to plead guilty to a criminal charge relating to promotions of its now-withdrawn Bextra pain medicine and will pay a record $2.3 billion to settle allegations it improperly marketed 13 medicines.

The world's biggest drugmaker was slapped with the significant fines on Wednesday after being deemed a repeat offender in pitching drugs to patients and doctors for conditions not approved by healthcare regulators.

Pfizer had pleaded guilty in 2004 to an earlier criminal charge of improper sales tactics and its marketing practices have been under federal supervision since then.

The company, which is acquiring rival Wyeth, had warned in January that it had taken a $2.3 billion charge late last year to resolve allegations involving Bextra and other drugs, but did not provide details at the time.

The agreement was unveiled by the U.S. Department of Justice and Health and Human Services Department,



Read more: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Pfizer-to-pay-record-23-bn-penalty/articleshow/4965161.cms

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Color me surprised. :sarcasm:

[Demeter]

1. Good! --From Jilted and Gutted Ann Arbor.

bunch of crooks.

[annarbor]

7. Amen to that!

With no warning, just up and left Ann Arbor! And Pfizer was the largest tax base in the City. Now Pfizer's campus belongs to the non-tax-paying University of Michigan.

Ann Arbor

[PSPS]

2. And that $2.3 billion is easily paid from the obscene profits they make on their drugs.

[Turborama]

3. Justice Department Announcement (Video)

Pfizer to pay record $2.3B penalty over promotions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsBaCSNd_6c

:kick: & R

[WriteDown]

4. This will most likely mean a loss of jobs and..

a raise in drug costs.

[Vidar]

5. If the FDA did its job, the drug companies would be too busy paying

fines & bail to undercut health care reform.

[underpants]

6. Well ain't that a pill

Not surprising at all.

BTW about 60% of the actual Research and Development of new drugs is done at the National Institute of Health. Even more is done at universities. Some of these junkets were surely accounted for in Pfizer's R&D "costs".

[ChromeFoundry]

8. good. bastards n/t

[Emit]

9. Pfizer to pay record $2.3B penalty for drug promos

Source: AP

WASHINGTON – Federal prosecutors hit Pfizer Inc. with a record-breaking $2.3 billion in fines Wednesday and called the world's largest drugmaker a repeating corporate cheat for illegal drug promotions that plied doctors with free golf, massages, and resort junkets.

Announcing the penalty as a warning to all drug manufacturers, Justice Department officials said the overall settlement is the largest ever paid by a drug company for alleged violations of federal drug rules, and the $1.2 billion criminal fine is the largest ever in any U.S. criminal case. The total includes $1 billion in civil penalties and a $100 million criminal forfeiture.

Authorities called Pfizer a repeat offender, noting it is the company's fourth such settlement of government charges in the last decade. The allegations surround the marketing of 13 different drugs, including big sellers such as Viagra, Zoloft, and Lipitor.

As part of its illegal marketing, Pfizer invited doctors to consultant meetings at resort locations, paying their expenses and providing perks, prosecutors said.

"They were entertained with golf, massages, and other activities," said Mike Loucks, the U.S. attorney in Massachusetts.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090902/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_pfizer_settlement

[underpants]

10. Well ain't that a pill

Not surprising at all.

BTW about 60% of the actual Research and Development of new drugs is done at the National Institute of Health. Even more is done at universities. Some of these junkets were surely accounted for in Pfizer's R&D "costs".

[D-Lee]

11. For a great explanation of the economics involved see this DU post

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6448744

[barbtries]

12. i like this

that should be enough money to make them think twice next time. here's hoping.

[MisterP]

13. oh, the PR-ostitutes at ACSH are gonna crap themselves n/t

[pinniped]

14. The US will use the fine to finance the purchase of more munitions.

.