[Ip-health] NY Times: Pfizer Pays $2.3 Billion to Settle Marketing Case

[Ethan Guillen]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
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Prosecutors said that they have become so alarmed by the growing criminalit=
y
in the industry that they have begun increasing fines into the billions of
dollars and will soon start charging doctors individually as well.

New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/business/03health.html?_r=3D1&hp
------------------------------
September 3, 2009
Pfizer Pays $2.3 Billion to Settle Marketing CaseBy GARDINER
HARRIS<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h/gardine=
r_harris/index.html?inline=3Dnyt-per>

WASHINGTON =97 Top aides in the Obama administration announced a $2.3 billi=
on
settlement on Wednesday with the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer
Inc.<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/pfizer_inc/index=
.html?inline=3Dnyt-org>
over
the company=92s illegal promotion of its now-withdrawn painkiller,
Bextra<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealt=
htopics/bextra_drug/index.html?inline=3Dnyt-classifier>
.

It is the largest fine ever levied for fraud in the
Medicare<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhea=
lthtopics/medicare/index.html?inline=3Dnyt-classifier>
 and Medicaid<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsa=
ndhealthtopics/medicaid/index.html?inline=3Dnyt-classifier>
programs,
and Obama administration officials =97 criticized by Republicans on Capitol
Hill for failing to crack down on fraud in the government=92s health progra=
ms
=97 sought to highlight the case by having Health and Human Services
Secretary Kathleen
Sebelius<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/kathl=
een_sebelius/index.html?inline=3Dnyt-per>
make
the announcement. The agreement also includes some promotional practices
involving other Pfizer drugs =97 Zyvox, Geodon and Lyrica.

The settlement had been expected. Pfizer, which is acquiring a rival,
Wyeth<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/wyeth/index.htm=
l?inline=3Dnyt-org>,
had reported in January that it had taken a $2.3 billion charge to resolve
claims involving Bextra and other drugs.

Marketing fraud cases against pharmaceutical companies have become almost
routine, with almost every major drug maker being accused of giving
kickbacks to doctors or shortchanging the Medicaid program on prices.
Prosecutors said that they have become so alarmed by the growing criminalit=
y
in the industry that they have begun increasing fines into the billions of
dollars and will soon start charging doctors individually as well.

Under the agreement<http://www.pfizer.com/news/press_releases/pfizer_press_=
releases.jsp#>
with
the Department of Justice, Pfizer will pay a $1.3 billion criminal penalty
related to Bextra and $1 billion in civil fines related to a number of
medicines. In addition, a Pfizer subsidiary, Pharmacia & Upjohn Company,
will plead guilty to violating the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act for its
promotion of Bextra.

In January, prosecutors announced that they would fine Eli
Lilly<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/lilly_eli_and_c=
ompany/index.html?inline=3Dnyt-org>
$1.4
billion for its illegal marketing efforts on behalf of Zyprexa, an
antipsychotic.

Although the fine amounts began to soar during the Bush administration, top
administration officials rarely touted the cases or appeared during news
conferences about them. The Zyprexa case was announced by federal
prosecutors in Philadelphia.

Ms. Sebelius=92s decision to make the Pfizer announcement in a news confere=
nce
in Washington suggests that the political environment for the pharmaceutica=
l
industry has become more treacherous =97 despite the industry=92s commitmen=
t to
save the government $80 billion as part of efforts to change the health car=
e
system.

In addition, Pfizer has reached agreements with attorneys general in 42
states and the District of Columbia to settle state claims related to its
promotional practices concerning Geodon. The company will pay $33 million t=
o
the settling states and will take a charge in that amount to third-quarter
2009 earnings.
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Ethan Guillen
Universities Allied for Essential Medicines
2625 Alcatraz Ave. #180
Berkeley, CA 94705
www.essentialmedicine.org