AstraZeneca has now joined the ranks of drugs companies that admit to trying to cash in on popular drugs
by promoting their off label use, hurting lots of people in the meantime. According to its recently released third-quarter earnings report, AstraZeneca agreed to settle “two federal investigations and two whistle-blower lawsuits” for $520 million over shady and misleading marketing practices (like that seen here) involving the “blockbuster psychiatric drug Seroquel.”
This comes on the heals of the similar scandal at Eli Lilly over Zyprexa, leading to a $1.4 billion payment, and Pfizer’s $2.3 billion payment, which includes “a record $1.195 billion criminal fine, mostly over its painkiller Bextra, which has been withdrawn from the market."
Now, I’m sure you’re wondering like I was, “Oh no, with all of these zillion dollar payouts lately, is the saintly mission of the pharmaceutical companies, “inventing medicines that allow patients to live longer, healthier, and more productive lives” in jeopardy?
Fear not. In fact thanks largely due to its success in the swine flu vaccine market, AstraZeneca also announced that revenues for the company “rose 10 percent, to $8.2 billion, and operating profit rose 29 percent, to $3.6 billion, at constant exchange rates over the year-earlier quarter.” Lilly and Pfizer are having pretty hot years as well.
This all just adds to the point we try to make as often as we can: litigation doesn’t stifle innovation within the pharmaceutical industry. What it does do, however, is make it expensive – hopefully too expensive – for them to put unsafe drugs on the market or promote them in unsafe ways.
This comes on the heals of the similar scandal at Eli Lilly over Zyprexa, leading to a $1.4 billion payment, and Pfizer’s $2.3 billion payment, which includes “a record $1.195 billion criminal fine, mostly over its painkiller Bextra, which has been withdrawn from the market."
Now, I’m sure you’re wondering like I was, “Oh no, with all of these zillion dollar payouts lately, is the saintly mission of the pharmaceutical companies, “inventing medicines that allow patients to live longer, healthier, and more productive lives” in jeopardy?
Fear not. In fact thanks largely due to its success in the swine flu vaccine market, AstraZeneca also announced that revenues for the company “rose 10 percent, to $8.2 billion, and operating profit rose 29 percent, to $3.6 billion, at constant exchange rates over the year-earlier quarter.” Lilly and Pfizer are having pretty hot years as well.
This all just adds to the point we try to make as often as we can: litigation doesn’t stifle innovation within the pharmaceutical industry. What it does do, however, is make it expensive – hopefully too expensive – for them to put unsafe drugs on the market or promote them in unsafe ways.
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