Drug Companies Admit To Fraud

More news on the corruption in the pharmaceutical industry - http://postscript.communitycatalyst.org/?p=3221


...the recent guilty plea and $1.5 billion settlement for illegal promotion of the drug Depakote revealed how Abbott Labs misled doctors for nearly a decade. They went to great lengths, profiling doctors, training their salespeople, and inappropriately funding and influencing Continuing Medical Education to get doctors to prescribe Depakote for unapproved treatment of seniors with dementia. Why? Because such off-label promotion instantly expands a drug’s market, and thus the drugmaker’s potential profits.

Unfortunately, class action lawsuits on behalf of consumers and health plans challenging such illegal marketing have met significant legal hurdles, and have been dismissed. This leaves consumers and private market health plans paying billions because of this fraud, while millions of patients receive inappropriate treatment, and are unnecessarily put at risk of side effects, which are often serious.

...As a result, six of the biggest drugmakers have admitted or pled guilty to illegal promotion of unapproved uses of drugs since 2004. These investigations, most often initiated by whistleblowers, have led to the largest fines in U.S. history, and billions will be recovered this year alone.

This past April, Arkansas Attorney-General Dustin McDaniel won a staggering verdict against Johnson & Johnson for their illegal promotion of the off-label uses of the antipsychotic drug Risperdal. In a trial before a jury, the state won $1.19 billion (yes, that’s ‘b’ ) in fines for violations of the state Medicaid anti-fraud law.

This again points to the willingness of pharmaceutical companies to place American lives at risk, so long as Pharma keeps making money. The pursuit of profits in the Pharma industry supersedes the loss of lives. Over 104,000 Americans lose their lives each year, while Pharma profits increase by 7-10% a year. The FDA facilitates this process by allowing Pharma and MDs to use drugs in unapproved ways. The FDA is heavily financed by Pharma and takes their cues from them. The drug Vioxx killed 60,000 Americans and caused 140,000 heart attacks while the FDA stood by. Lawsuits like these are done at the State level, as government enforcement agencies like the FDA and CDC, are too heavily controlled by Pharma. Over 90% of the drugs given to children are unapproved for their use in children.

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