Pfizer Dodges Fraud Prosecution AGAIN By Paying Over $1 Billion Fine

A division of Pfizer Inc., the world’s largest drugmaker, has agreed to plead
guilty to two felonies and pay $430 million in penalties to settle charges that
it fraudulently promoted the drug Neurontin for a string of unapproved uses.

In an agreement announced by government prosecutors Thursday, Pfizer unit
Warner-Lambert admitted that it aggressively marketed the epilepsy drug by

illicit means for unrelated conditions including bipolar disorder, pain,
migraine headaches, and drug and alcohol withdrawal.
A company whistle-blower, whose 1996 civil suit spurred
government investigations of Neurontin’s marketing campaign, will receive about
$26.6 million through the settlement under legal provisions that reward citizens
for helping to recover government money obtained by fraud.

The settlement includes $152 million to pay back amounts spent on Neurontin
by the federal Medicare program and 50 state Medicaid programs for the poor. In
addition, Pfizer will pay a $240 million criminal fine, the second-largest such

fine ever imposed in a health care fraud prosecution, the Department of Justice
said.

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Sen. Grassley: Drug Companies “Bamboozled the FDA” on SSRI Antidepressants

“The report shows that Glaxo [makers of Paxil] knew in 1989, long before
Paxil was FDA approved, that people taking the drug were 8 times more likely to
engage in suicidal behavior than people given a placebo, or sugar pill. Now,
it stands to reason that even the most depressed person would decline to take
Paxil if given these facts. Also, parents certainly would decline if they
were told about the risks. . . .

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6/9/2000 – Prozac Fraud – Motion Filed in Forsyth Case

June 8, 2000 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Baum, Hedlund, Aristei, Guilford & Downey 12100 Wilshire Blvd., Ste. 950 Los Angeles, CA 90025 Contact: Robin McCall bhagd@… Day: (800) 827-0087 or (310) 207-3233 Night: (818) 558-5964 www.bhagd.com/media/prozacinformation.html PROZAC MAKER, ELI LILLY AND COMPANY, COMMITTED FRAUD ON HAWAII COURT BY CONCEALING CRUCIAL EVIDENCE AT TRIAL, FAMILY IN NEWLY…

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