LOS ANGELES — Pharmaceutical drug maker GlaxoSmithKline PLC will pay $3 billion and plead guilty to federal charges to resolve a slew of criminal and civil issues stemming from its use of kickbacks, misbranding and other misconduct to market drugs such as Paxil, Wellbutrin and Advair, the U.S. government announced.
Maine will receive $4.4 million as part of the agreement, which is the largest health care fraud settlement in history, spanning nearly every state, according to the Justice Department. It’s also the largest payment ever by a drug company.
The settlement is “unprecedented in both size and scope,” said James M. Cole, deputy attorney general, in a statement.
“Today brings to resolution difficult, long-standing matters for GSK,” said Chief Executive Sir Andrew Witty in a statement. “Whilst these originate in a different era for the company, they cannot and will not be ignored. On behalf of GSK, I want to express our regret and reiterate that we have learnt from the mistakes that were made.”
Maine Attorney General William Schneider said in a statement that GlaxoSmithKline “put the health of patients at risk and imposed enormous costs on Medicaid and taxpayers.”
In Maine, the $4.4 million in settlement money will flow to the state’s MaineCare program, which administers Medicaid services.
The British company illegally marketed depression drug Paxil to children and teens, even sponsoring dinners and spa programs in the drug’s name, prosecutors said.
Glaxo also used sham advisory boards and speakers at lavish resorts to promote depression drug Wellbutrin as an option for weight loss and a remedy for sexual dysfunction and substance addiction, according to the government. Customers were urged to use higher-than-approved dosages, the government said.
The health care giant also was accused by prosecutors of advertising off-label uses for asthma drug Advair, seizure medication Lamictal and nausea treatment Zofran while also making false claims about the safety and usefulness of such drugs.
The government also accused Glaxo of offering kickbacks to medical professionals, dangling cash, trips to Florida, and tickets to basketball games as incentives to promote and prescribe its drugs.
Glaxo also submitted incorrect prices for its products to the government, allowing it to underpay rebates owed to programs such as Medicaid, prosecutors said.
The company will plead guilty to three federal criminal charges, two of them for introducing misbranded Paxil and Wellbutrin drugs and one for not reporting safety data about the cardiovascular effects of diabetes drug Avandia to the Food and Drug Administration.
To deal with damages and civil penalties, Glaxo will shell out $2 billion while paying a $1 billion criminal fine.
BDN Writer Matthew Stone contributed to this report.
not a comment …..these people are literally messing with our minds and no one cares…..been on two of those drugs and they did nothing but make my condition worse……the new snake oil salesman……
This is exactly why Americans do not participate in the health insurance industry. Millions believe it is safer to use alternative means to treat their conditions; may be the safest way for them.
Why should the state of maine get the 4.4million how about the comsumer being refunded.Why should state get anymore money. Ho that right its going for mainecare. Welfare prevail again. Maybe as taxpayers of the state of maine we could claim the welfare and get the earn income credit. Sounds good to me.
Instad of taking money in a suit they should send people to jail. The drug company expected the fines, they made 18 billion, whats 4 billion in fines? The politicians are bought and paid for by these drug companies.
GSK would have offered up a few lackeys to be punished while the fat cat executives who devised the plan and benefited from it lavished in their mansions.
I’m glad the company “learnt” from it.
lol and yet soon with obama care coming to us we will all be forced to accept this or pay a fine/tax for treatment that may be substandard instead of being aloud to live our lifes. Land of the free yea in comic books.
If we had a universal healthcare plan this wouldn’t happen.
Maine gets 4.4 million, but Massachusetts gets 35 million?
Does not seem fair!!!! Unless the welfare is higher in Mass is all I can come up with.
Legalize Mary and put Big Pharma out of business!!! You think this is the only company misleading the public? The medical industry is in bed with Big Pharma to market snake oils to all of us. Return to nature people!
Ok, i have another question for you gurus in the know. We supposedly get 4 million from this suit right? Well who gets it? My kid was misdiagnosed with Wellbutrin for years because of depression. So how does a lowly schmo like me get his hands on some of that dough? I am sure the likely answer is that i DONT. Instead it will be used towards some other political fund that nobody knows a dang thing about…Ya just gotta love justice.
Its interesting to me how there are no sentences for the individuals who authorized this fraud scheme. 3 billion in damages! What kind of damage do you think this level of fraud causes our economy and society?
Now consider how easily we sentence TANF, Unemployment or Food Stamp fraud convictions to jail time. The damage in those cases is in the hundreds of dollars, case by case, sometimes thousands. But billions!
I cringe when I consider how disproportionately we accuse the vulnerable for our desperate economy when people who earn millions of dollars a year do more damage before their mid morning martini then someone fraudulently claiming unemployment benefits could do in a lifetime. Neither is right of course, we just pick the easier targets… poor people. The rich get fined, well their companies do “The company will plead guilty.” How does a company plead guilty? People are guilty but they still go boating on the weekend.
Sad.
And yet the GOP wants Americans to continue with the current method of providing healthcare in our country!!!!!! They lie, cheat, steal, and then tell us this is better than a universal healthcare plan that eliminates “for profit” healthcare. What the !!!!