GlaxoSmithKline pleads guilty to healthcare fraud, $3bn payout

[usagi]

GlaxoSmithKline is to pay $3bn (£1.9bn) in the largest healthcare fraud settlement in US history.

 

The drug giant is to plead guilty to promoting two drugs for unapproved uses and failing to report safety data about a diabetes drug to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The settlement will cover criminal fines as well as civil settlements with the federal and state governments. The case concerns 10 drugs, including Paxil, Wellbutrin, Avandia and Advair.

 

Deputy US Attorney General James Cole told a news conference in Washington DC that the settlement was "unprecedented in both size and scope".

 

GSK, one of the world's largest healthcare and pharmaceuticals companies, admitted to promoting antidepressants Paxil and Wellbutrin for unapproved uses, including treatment of children and adolescents. The illegal practice is known as off-label marketing.

 

The company also conceded charges that it held back data and made unsupported safety claims over its diabetes drug Avandia. It agreed to resolve civil liability for promoting asthma drug Advair and two lesser-known drugs for unapproved uses.

 

In addition, GSK has been found guilty of paying kickbacks to doctors. "The sales force bribed physicians to prescribe GSK products using every imaginable form of high-priced entertainment, from Hawaiian vacations [and] paying doctors millions of dollars to go on speaking tours, to tickets to Madonna concerts," said US attorney Carmin Ortiz.

 

As part of the settlement, GSK agreed to be monitored by government officials for five years. GSK said in a statement it would pay the fines through existing cash resources.

 

Andrew Witty, the firm's chief executive, said procedures for compliance, marketing and selling had been changed at GSK's US unit. "We have learnt from the mistakes that were made," Mr Witty said. "When necessary, we have removed employees who have engaged in misconduct."

 

source

[Redruth]

i just sold all my opium poppy futures. what is it going to be like in the modern world if the monkeys go unmedicated?

[Guest disparaissant]

oh surprise surprise this is almost exactly what i was talking about in the obamacare thread

[sergeantk]

Fuck the US healthcare industry

 

For shame

[lumpenprol]

GSK said in a statement it would pay the fines through existing cash resources.

 

damn, they be rollin' in it

[goDel]

Fuck the pharmaceutical industry

 

For shame

 

*fixt*

 

It's an international industry, and they operated like this in the entire market.

 

I've been to a couple of manufacturers and currently they're all very active in making clear they're working on straightening their business model. But in a way, they're just like bankers: there's just too much money and too many risks involved.

 

Also note there's not a single doctor which is held directly responsible. It looks like the doctors were for sale, and you can ask yourself whether today's situation is actually any better. Personally, I'd say there's as much blame in the medical practitioners community. They're either incredibly naive, or downright greedy. Probably both.

[goDel]

too late to edit...

 

 

also note the wording - the doctors were bribed...with what exactly? with presents? that's not a bribe is it? it would be a bribe if there were serious consequences if doctors did not cooperate. go figure.

either way, the doctors should take a serious look in the mirror. they're the ones who are actually responsible for the wellbeing of their patients.

[azatoth]

Of course presents can be bribes, why couldn't they? It was to make them prescribe GSK products. There doesn't need to be a threat for it to be a bribe. C'mon, man.

[goDel]

It's a matter of definition, perhaps. I was under the assumption that for something to be a bribe, there have to be consequences. To me, it made it sound as if the doctors were just as much the victims as the patients who were given those medicins. I still stand by my point, regardless of the definition issue.

[azatoth]

The consequences of the bribe was that the doctors prescribed GSK products, just as was intended with the bribe. But yeah, the doctors are to blame too, since they took the bribes and GSK is rightfully being penalized for even doing the bribing. I would also like to see the doctors brought in front of an ethics committee.

 

bribe/brīb/

 

Verb:

Persuade (someone) to act in one's favor, typically illegally or dishonestly, by a gift of money or other inducement.

[Guest disparaissant]

yeah i think you're confusing bribe with blackmail. there's a difference.

 

and yeah, fuck doctors who do that.

 

at least some of them are cool about it. i've seen doctors help out poor patients by taking all the sample packs that the pharma reps give them and using them to fill perscriptions for people who can't afford them. that's good use of ill-gotten gains.

[Guest Gary C]

$3bn is not enough.

[goDel]

You want more?

[Guest chunky]

when i was a kid me and my mates went on a walk and then we came across a glaxosmithkline building and outside there were loads of and loads of dead worms , most likely there because of all the weird chemicals coming from their activities

[Blir]

Glaxo Smith Kline came from space! Invented Benjamin Franklin. Started a liiiittle company called.. the Internet.

 

Do physicians in general just really love Madonna or what?

[Guest theSun]

at least some of them are cool about it. i've seen doctors help out poor patients by taking all the sample packs that the pharma reps give them and using them to fill perscriptions for people who can't afford them. that's good use of ill-gotten gains.

 

my mom is a nurse practitioner in a pediatrics office. there used to be drug reps that would come around and give out pens/notepads/sample prescriptions of their drug but this has become more regulated recently. they always buy dinners where a bunch of health pros sit around and watch some powerpoint for some drug, but that's about it. no vacations or millions of dollars at that level.

 

the amount of money going around big pharma is incredible tho (as discussed in obamacare thread). profit margins of like 15-20% compared to avg USA business profit of ~2% and health insurers typically under 5%. i have no idea how they operate outside the US, but i'm assuming the same methods work.

 

i was recently thinking that when this period is looked at in the context of history in a few hundred years, the attempted development of these synthetic drugs will be considered just that. we're basically a big science experiment for future medicine. there's no other way to progress. it's just scary (and sad) that doctors prescribe based on monetary gain rather than health gain.

 

i also think that these doctors should at least be suspended. at the very least their actions violate the hippocratic oath. if they just took the vacations and didn't prescribe the drug at all i guess that's cool (lol) but you can't let something like that get in the way of objectivity.

[goDel]

Well, the sick thing is that currently, although there is tighter regulation, the pharmaceutical industry tends to 'help' medical institutions if they sell their stuff. Institutions can get rebates, free equipment or other stuff which could help a medical institution do their job.

 

So as an insurer, if you're confronted with medical doctor prescribing too many expensive drugs you can be confronted with a catch22 situation where the medical institution actually depends on prescribing drug X from manufacturer Y. So what do you do?

[Redruth]

$3bn is not enough.