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Article Source: NJ.comOff-label marketing is a tactic drugmakers use to increase sales of a medicine by persuading physicians to prescribe it for things other than its approved use.
A practice the FDA frowns upon, levying fines in the BILLIONS on companies such as Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson's, and AstraZeneca among others.
Some say the BILLIONS lost are a drop in the bucket to these drug companies and are, in fact, factored into the drugs pricing.
The pharmaceutical industry, which is concentrated in New Jersey, has long depended on the development of blockbuster medicines to stay profitable, intensifying the pressure to constantly turn out new, powerful drugs.
Between 1999 and 2004, Pfizer generated $10 billion selling its seizure drug Neurontin for unapproved uses,
“As long as off-label promotion is more profitable than the fines for punishing off-label promotion, we will have off-label promotion,” said Adriane Fugh-Berman, an associate professor at Georgetown University Medical Center,
Ortho-mcneil fined
In April, federal authorities in Boston accused Ortho-McNeil of creating a management-sanctioned program to promote Topamax among psychiatrists and other physicians. The New Brunswick-based health care giant agreed to pay $6.14 million and plead guilty to a misdemeanor violation of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act to settle the charges.
6.4 million in fines against $10 BILLION in sales. Hardly even a slap on the wrist.
#1 - Mon Jun 7, 2010 1:30 PM EDTPrivileged corporate fraud using your body as a toxic garbage pit....
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