>
Pfizer pleads guilty to felony crime in fraudulent marketing
of Bextra, pays billions in fines
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger,
NaturalNews Editor
(NaturalNews) For the last several years, I've referred to
drug companies as "criminal" operations. They have engaged in
price fixing, marketing fraud, science fraud and many other
criminal activities that we've written about here on
NaturalNews. And yet, until today, they always managed to
avoid the criminal charges by settling with the government
for a few million dollars in payouts. This was their racket:
Violate the law, then when you get caught, just settle with
some cash. (And there's always some spare cash to go around
since fraudulent science and fraudulent marketing is very,
very lucrative.)
But all that changed today with the announcement of a Dept.
of Justice criminal case that has resulted in Pfizer
<http://www.naturalnews.com/Pfizer.html> pleading guilty to
a felony crime. Which crime? "...for misbranding Bextra
<http://www.naturalnews.com/Bextra.html> with the intent to
defraud or mislead." You can read the DOJ documents
describing the settlement here:
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/Se...
<http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/September/09-aag-900.html>
Essentially, Pfizer asked the FDA
<http://www.naturalnews.com/the_FDA.html> to approve Bextra
for a variety of diseases and conditions, and when the FDA
refused those approvals, Pfizer decided to go ahead and
market the drugs <http://www.naturalnews.com/drugs.html> for
those diseases and conditions anyway (off-label marketing).
But that's not all. In the DOJ statement, you'll read the
following:
Pfizer has agreed to pay $1 billion to resolve allegations
under the civil False Claims Act that the company illegally
promoted four drugs -- Bextra; Geodon, an anti-psychotic
drug; Zyvox, an antibiotic; and Lyrica, an anti-epileptic
drug -- and caused false claims to be submitted to government
health care <http://www.naturalnews.com/health_care.html>
programs for uses that were not medically accepted
indications and therefore not covered by those programs. The
civil settlement also resolves allegations that Pfizer paid
kickbacks <http://www.naturalnews.com/kickbacks.html> to
health care providers to induce them to prescribe these, as
well as other, drugs. The federal share of the civil
settlement is $668,514,830 and the state Medicaid
<http://www.naturalnews.com/Medicaid.html> share of the
civil settlement is $331,485,170. This is the largest civil
fraud settlement in history against a pharmaceutical company
<http://www.naturalnews.com/pharmaceutical_company.html> .
False claims, kickbacks, felony crimes and civil fraud... it
seems that the truth about pharmaceutical companies
<http://www.naturalnews.com/pharmaceutical_companies.html>
like Pfizer is finally starting to emerge.
And here's the best part: Pfizer's own whistleblowers
<http://www.naturalnews.com/whistleblowers.html> will cash
in! "Six whistleblowers will receive payments totaling more
than $102 million from the federal share of the civil
recovery," says the DOJ.
$2.3 billion in fines Along with this admission of guilt for
committing a felony crime, Pfizer is paying well over $1
billion in criminal fines, plus another $1 billion or so to
resolve civil allegations against its fraudulent marketing
practices. In all, the multi-billion dollar settlement is the
largest in the history of the DOJ.
All I can say is: Good work! I've often stated that the
pharmaceutical industry
<http://www.naturalnews.com/pharmaceutical_industry.html>
should be subjected to our nation's laws, and yet it has
operated in a largely lawless fashion for decades. The FTC,
for example, which should be investigating the drug industry
monopolies that rip off American consumers and limit consumer
choice, has all but ignored the monopolistic (and highly
illegal) practices of the pharmaceutical industry. But the
Dept. of Justice has now apparently decided that enough is
enough -- it's going to investigate and prosecute serious
criminal fraud being committed by drug companies
<http://www.naturalnews.com/drug_companies.html> .
It all makes me wonder whether the folks in Washington have
finally figured out that Big Pharma
<http://www.naturalnews.com/Big_Pharma.html> is bankrupting
America, and that if true health
<http://www.naturalnews.com/health.html> care reform is to
have any hope of reeling in the runaway costs of "sick care,"
it's going to have to address the fraud and criminality of
the pharmaceutical industry. You can't run a national health
care system
<http://www.naturalnews.com/health_care_system.html> that's
affordable and effective if a large part of the system is
based on monopoly priced, fraudulently marketed and
scientifically falsified drugs.
This is now becoming apparent at both the state and federal
level. Check out these quotes from some of the players
involved (quoted from the DOJ press release):
"Today's landmark settlement is an example of the Department
of Justice's ongoing and intensive efforts to protect the
American public and recover funds for the federal treasury
and the public from those who seek to earn a profit through
fraud. It shows one of the many ways in which federal
government, in partnership with its state and local allies,
can help the American people
<http://www.naturalnews.com/American_people.html> at a time
when budgets are tight and health care costs are increasing,"
said Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli. "This
settlement is a testament to the type of broad, coordinated
effort among federal agencies and with our state and local
partners that is at the core of the Department of Justice's
approach to law enforcement
<http://www.naturalnews.com/law_enforcement.html> ."
"This historic settlement will return nearly $1 billion to
Medicare, Medicaid, and other government insurance programs,
securing their future for the Americans who depend on these
programs," said Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Department of
Health and Human Services. "The Department of Health and
Human Services will continue to seek opportunities to work
with its government partners to prosecute fraud wherever we
can find it. But we will also look for new ways to prevent
fraud before it happens. Health care is too important to let
a single dollar go to waste."
"Illegal conduct and fraud by pharmaceutical companies puts
the public health at risk, corrupts medical decisions by
health care providers, and costs the government billions of
dollars," said Tony West, Assistant Attorney General for the
Civil Division. "This civil settlement and plea agreement by
Pfizer represent yet another example of what penalties will
be faced when a pharmaceutical company puts profits ahead of
patient welfare."
"Health care fraud has a significant financial impact on the
Postal Service. This case alone impacted more than 10,000
postal employees <http://www.naturalnews.com/employees.html>
on workers' compensation who were treated with these drugs,"
said Joseph Finn, Special Agent in Charge for the Postal
Service's Office of Inspector General. "Last year the Postal
Service paid more than $1 billion in workers' compensation
benefits to postal employees injured on the job."
"The size and seriousness of this resolution, including the
huge criminal fine of $1.3 billion, reflect the seriousness
and scope of Pfizer's crimes," said Mike Loucks, acting U.S.
Attorney for the District of Massachusetts. "Pfizer violated
the law over an extensive time period. Furthermore, at the
very same time Pfizer was in our office negotiating and
resolving the allegations of criminal conduct by its then
newly acquired subsidiary, Warner-Lambert, Pfizer was itself
in its other operations violating those very same laws.
Today's enormous fine demonstrates that such blatant and
continued disregard of the law will not be tolerated."
These are such harsh words against Pfizer that you might
think I wrote them. Yet they're printed word-for-word by the
Dept. of Justice. Read them yourself here:
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/Se...
<http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/September/09-aag-900.html>
Do you see what all these statements have in common? Money is
tight. Big Pharma's price fixing
<http://www.naturalnews.com/price_fixing.html> and marketing
fraud was well tolerated when easy money was readily
available, but now that the writing is on the wall with
record government debt, falling tax revenues and huge budget
cuts at the state level, every dollar counts. Suddenly Big
Pharma's fraud looks like a lucrative target where some money
can be recovered and restored to state coffers.
A tidal wave of legal action against drug companies? I have a
feeling these Pfizer fines are just the beginning. In an
economy where unemployment is skyrocketing and state and
federal budgets are getting squeezed, pharmaceutical
companies look a little suspicious sitting on a big pile of
cash. Where did all that cash come from? And why aren't the
American people any healthier after spending all that cash on
Big Pharma's medications?
Everybody in the law enforcement side of government already
knows the pharmaceutical industry operates in blatant
violation of the law. Now it's just a matter of figuring out
what it will cost in legal fees to prove Big Pharma's crimes
and recover yet more billions from companies like Pfizer.
State administrators are running this formula through their
heads right now: If we spend, say, ten million dollars on
legal fees and investigative efforts against the drug
companies, we stand a good chance of recovering a hundred
million dollars (or more) in money that can go straight into
the state treasury... and that means we don't have to shut
down as many schools, or state parks, or social services,
etc. in order to balance the state budget.
It's a tempting equation, especially during difficult
economic times. And now that the DOJ has proven they can get
a guilty plea and a few billion dollars out of just one
pharmaceutical giant, the gold rush is on: More states (and
perhaps more nations) will see this as a green light to go
after the money.
What we're likely to see now with Big Pharma is a lot like
what happened with Big Tobacco. The tobacco
<http://www.naturalnews.com/tobacco.html> industry wasn't
sued by states because it manufactured a product that killed
people -- that sort of thing has always been tolerated in
America <http://www.naturalnews.com/America.html> -- it was
sued because the states saw easy money combined with a great
cover story. "We're saving people from tobacco!"
Now, there's a new cover story that we'll see repeated as the
states go after Big Pharma: "We're saving our health care
system!"
And it's largely true. Health care cannot financially survive
if the biggest corporate players routinely engage in criminal
fraud as a way of doing business.
That's why this DOJ settlement with Pfizer over the criminal
marketing of its Bextra drug is a step in the right
direction. While one criminal conviction won't end Big
Pharma's fraudulent drug racket over night, it is at least a
shot over the bow of pharmaceutical manufacturers, warning
them that there are limits to the degree of deception in
which they can engage.
As part of the settlement with the DOJ, by the way, Pfizer
also agreed to an "expansive corporate integrity agreement"
designed to root out and halt criminal behavior by its own
employees in the future. It's fascinating that corporate
ethics in America have sunk so low that a company must
actually launch an internal corporate integrity program just
to teach its employees and officers to avoid engaging in
felony crimes.
Additional sources used in this story:
DOJ settlement document:
<http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/September/09-aag-900.html>
-*-
'
-
Connected ...
>> Light*Line NEWS ///\\\///\\\///\\\///\\\/// SEPTEMBER 2009
global community news since 1997
http://LightLine.blogspot.com/
-----------------------------------------------
To sub/unsub go to http://LightLine.US
We'll Hook You Up!
* = Disclaimer & Fair Use Notice =
All info provided as a public service. Views and opinions
expressed are not necessarily those of the publisher. This
message may contain copyrighted material the use of which may
not have specific authorization by the copyright owner.
LightLine makes such material available in an effort to
advance the understanding of political, scientific, and
religious issues. We believe this constitutes a "fair use" of
any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107
of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C.
Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to
those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the
included information for nonprofit educational and research
purposes. For more information on fair use, go to:
http://linkbee.com/fairuse
"!"
0 comments:
Post a Comment