Pfizer to pay €343m in drug case
Pfizer has agreed to plead guilty and pay €343m in fines to settle charges that Warner-Lambert, the company it acquired four years ago, flouted the law by promoting non-approved uses for one of its drugs.
The settlement with the world’s largest pharmaceutical company includes a €21.8m payment for whistleblower David Franklin, who first reported the marketing abuses to authorities.
Under the agreement released today by federal in Boston, the company acknowledged spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote non-approved uses for the anti-seizure drug Neurontin, in part by paying doctors hefty speakers’ fees and flying them to lavish resorts as “educational” trips.
Pfizer will plead guilty to violating the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and will pay a €209m criminal fine and €134m in civil fines to be shared among state and federal Medicaid agencies.
