GlaxoSmithKline yesterday agreed to plead guilty and pay $3 billion (€2.4 billion) over criminal and civil charges that it illegally promoted prescription drugs and failed to report safety data.
The settlement, the largest ever in a healthcare fraud case in the US, includes a criminal fine of $956.8 million, the US justice department said. Glaxo will also forfeit $43 million.
Glaxo will plead guilty to marketing the drugs Paxil and Wellbutrin for uses not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration and for failing to report clinical data on Avandia, federal prosecutors said, according to filings yesterday in federal court in Boston.
“Today’s historic settlement is a major milestone in our efforts to stamp out health care fraud,” Bill Corr, deputy secretary of health and human services, said in a statement. “For a long time, our healthcare system had been a target for cheaters.”
Glaxo, Britain’s largest drugmaker, last year set aside $3.5 billion to cover the cost of the settlement, which resolves a seven-year investigation of the company’s marketing practices for the three drugs. – (Bloomberg)
