Thursday, October 28, 2010
GlaxoSmithKline agreed this week to pay the largest fine ever ($150 million) by a drug maker to settle criminal charges of having sold tainted products. The fine was part of a $750 million settlement reached with the U.S. Department of Justice to resolve criminal and civil complaints that Glaxo knowingly marketed contaminated baby ointment and an ineffective antidepressant produced at its plant in Puerto Rico between 2001 and 2005.
The legal case began after a company whistleblower, Cheryl Eckard, was fired for trying to warn Glaxo officials about problems with contamination at the Puerto Rican facility. Among the drugs affected were Paxil, an antidepressant; Bactroban, an ointment; Avandia, a troubled diabetes drug; Coreg, a heart drug; and Tagamet, an acid reflux drug.
Eckard will receive $96 million from the settlement, one of the highest awards ever given to a whistleblower. Civil penalties comprise another $600 million of the agreement.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Glaxo to Pay $750 Million for Sale of Bad Products (by Gardiner Harris and Duff Wilson, New York Times)
GlaxoSmithKline to Plead Guilty & Pay $750 Million to Resolve Criminal and Civil Liability Regarding Manufacturing Deficiencies at Puerto Rico Plant (U.S. Department of Justice)
Pfizer to Pay Largest Criminal Fine in History (by David Wallechinsky, AllGov)
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