“Largest case of healthcare fraud in US history.” On these issues affecting life and death, not one person going to jail. If any of the rest of us did this we’d be in jail for the rest of our lives. Pay off the government, pass go, do not go to jail.
GlaxoSmithKline Plc agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor criminal charges and pay $3 billion to settle what government officials on Monday described as the largest case of healthcare fraud in U.S. history…
GSK targeted the antidepressant Paxil to patients under age 18 when it was approved for adults only, and it pushed the drug Wellbutrin for uses it was not approved for, including weight loss and treatment of sexual dysfunction, according to an investigation led by the U.S. Justice Department.
The company went to extreme lengths to promote the drugs, such as distributing a misleading medical journal article and providing doctors with meals and spa treatments that amounted to illegal kickbacks, prosecutors said.
In a third instance, GSK failed to give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration safety data about its diabetes drug Avandia, in violation of U.S. law, prosecutors said.
The misconduct continued for years beginning in the late 1990s and continued, in the case of Avandia’s safety data, through 2007. GSK agreed to plead guilty to three misdemeanor criminal counts, one each related to the three drugs.
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Abstracted from our favorite online encyclopedia:
GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) (LSE: GSK, NYSE: GSK) is a British multinational pharmaceutical, biologics, vaccines, and consumer healthcare company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s fourth-largest pharmaceutical company measured by 2009 prescription drug sales (after Pfizer, Novartis and Sanofi).
GSK was formed in 2000 by the merger of GlaxoWellcome plc (formed from the acquisition of Wellcome plc by Glaxo plc), and SmithKline Beecham plc (formed from the merger of Beecham plc and SmithKline Beckman Corporation).
They have a notable history of ‘gettin’ in the trouble’ and paying fines ‘out the wazoo'(not a medical term, btw…)
Here’s a ‘good one’:
On 12 September 2006 GSK settled the largest tax dispute in IRS history agreeing to pay $3.1 billion
OR
The U.S. Department of Justice announced in October 2010 that GlaxoSmithKline would pay $150 million in criminal fines and $600 million in civil penalties. GlaxoSmithKline agreed to pay the $750 million settlement in response to criminal and civil complaints against the company stemming from production of improperly made and adulterated drugs at their subsidiary SB Pharmco Puerto Rico Inc in Cidra, Puerto Rico.
In my opinion, it wouldn’t be a stretch to call this a rotten, corrupt and unethical company from the top down.
posted 7/2 415pm Texas[Placebo]Time
How much money have managers of GSK given to Democrat campaigns? Is there a reporter who thinks, gee maybe I should follow the money. Buehler? Buehler?
This settlement only outpaces the Pfizer settlement by $700M. The really sick thing about THAT is that Pfizer’s crimes were far more broad, including Provera (a birth control drug that had a very long and storied history that kept the FDA from approving it for more than twenty years and STILL shouldn’t be on the market, IMO) and Bextra (an NSAID that Pfizer covered up certain research on that would have shown severe contraindications – stuff like angina and high risk for stroke and heart attack – which ultimately led to the drug being yanked from the market completely).
Merck was caught, too, although they paid a much less stiff penalty for breaking Medicare laws governing drug pricing.
Betsy Woodruff article on former Pfizer CEO.
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/304639/pfizer-s-political-ceo-betsy-woodruff
Some years ago, I lived near Pfizer in Groton Conn. It was fine to live by, a little smelly, a little noise, but okay for normal life activities and the business employed many people in good jobs. However, when I (anyone) ran around the streets and then you hit the air around Pfizer, you stopped dead in your tracks because you couldn’t breathe. C’est la vie.
Oh, and don’t forget Walgreens. They paid a not-so-nominal sum after getting caught in a drug-swapping scam.