Drug company corruption

The Swiss drug giant Novartis is the latest company in that sleazy industry to buy its way out of multiple corrupt practices charges.

Novartis paid $422.5 million to settle criminal and civil investigations into the marketing of six of its drugs. It had been accused by federal prosecutors of paying illegal kickbacks to health professionals. It denied wrongdoing – a common drug company practice in these situations – but paid the walloping fine to avoid prosecution.

In the last few years, at least five other major drug companies have pleaded guilty of health care fraud and have settled with huge payments. Pfizer paid $2.3 billion; Eli Lilly, $1.4 billion; Allergan,$600 million; AstraZeneca, $520 million; Bristol-Myers Squibb, $515 million, and Forest Laboratories, $313 million.
Novartis raised a few eyebrows when it announced its guilt and in the same release pledged to “continue its commitment too high standards of ethical business conduct and regulatory compliance.”

The criminal conduct at issue with Novartis and the other companies was aggressive (and illegal) “off‐label marketing, ”that is, persuading physicians to use drugs for purposes other than those approved by rigorous testing.