Pfizer has settled with the Justice Department, agreeing to pay $2.3 billion in civil and criminal penalties. It's a big deal, but for whom? Hidden behind the settlement are the thousands of people who have suffered and died because of Pfizer's drugs and marketing, but they won't get a thing. I just don't get a warm and fuzzy over this. Watching the posturing of government officials as they pose for the cameras with their serious faces and proclamations looks like business as usual.
Can't you picture them, huddled together, worried about the public's growing awareness of pharmaceutical corruption, trying to figure out how to make it look like they're doing something to protect us? Let's listen:
"Mr. X at Mega Pharmaceuticals is threatening to pull their support for my candidate's campaign. We've gotta do something!"
"Yeah, but those news reports about drugs being pushed for stuff they're not approved for..."
"I know, I know! But they've got us over a barrel. If we don't do something, my guy won't get reelected. We need to make it look like something's being done. Get the public's attention off this stuff — make it look like we're protecting 'em from Big Pharma."
"I've got an idea. Mega's got a ton of money for marketing, right? It's part of the cost of doing business. Let's see if they'll go along with a big fine. Y'know, a coupla billion. That looks like big bucks to most folk."
"Not bad...yeah. Let's do it. We'll make a big production of it — get our pictures in the papers. Be good guys. Uh...do ya think Mega Pharmaceuticals will go along?!
"Sure! They'll act contrite, put on a big show, and find a way to raise prices to cover it. No harm done. It's just a cost of doing business."
Think it sounds far-fetched? Let's put it in perspective. This year, Pfizer agreed to purchase another pharmaceutical giant, Wyeth, for — sit down, hold your breath — $68 billion. What's $2.3 billion to them? In fact, they didn't even try to act contrite over their misdeeds.
The Scoop
This is the fourth time in a single decade that Pfizer has been fined for illegal marketing. The new settlement is the biggest ever. It's for marketing drugs, especially Bextra, for conditions that were never approved by the FDA. It's legal for doctors to do this, but not for drug companies to push their products for that purpose.
Article comments
1 - Ruvy
Heidi,
I went to your site, and see that your are serious about keeping an eye out on things like Tamiflu and the swine flu and how pharmaceutical firms rip peole off. You might find it interesting to go to the site of Dr. Henry Niman, the president of Recombinomics, Inc. His angle is not the fortune that Roche Pharmaceuticals is making, though the execs there propbably think he is after them. His angle is recombining genes within viruses - and how they can kill us.
2 - Heidi Stevenson
Thank you, Ruvy. That's a subject that I intend to study more and write about. Thank you very much for the link. I've taken a quick look, and it'll likely be a good source of information for me.
Are you familiar with Morgellon's disease? That's where I came to realize that such gene recombination can be so terribly dangerous. At first, I thought that a connection between that disease and GMOs was absurd - but not any longer. (That may be another article, by the way - but a very technical one.)
Just took a look at your blog - looks very interesting, and I'll spend some time on it.