Big Pharma: A Real war Against Drugs (Painting the Wasteland Green‪)‬

The news on September 3 didn't even receive a front page headline in the New York Times. In fact it didn't even flash across the headlines of the Times Business Section. This is strange if only due to the fact that the news did have the novelty of involving the largest criminal fine of all time. That was what the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, the world's largest drug maker, agreed to pay in a settlement with the Justice Department over unlawful prescription drug promotions. The fine itself came out to $1.2 billion. Plus Pfizer must pay another $1 billion to compensate Medicaid and Medicare which, along with a criminal forfeiture, totals $2.3 billion. The criminal charge is related to a painkiller called Bextra, considered a Cox-2 inhibitor, which was pulled from the market back in 2005 due to mounting evidence that it increased the risk of heart attack, stroke, and death. According to the government, Bextra and several other drugs were promoted as treatment for medical conditions beyond the conditions for which the FDA had approved their use. It was the fourth such illegal marketing settlement for Pfizer in the last decade, and much like the other three it hardly put a dent in its fortunes--$2.3 billion amounts to less than three weeks of Pfizer sales--as its stock declined a mere 14 cents on the very day of the settlement, and the company announced plans to acquire rival drug maker Wyeth for $68 billion.