Tag Archives: bribery

Natural News: GlaxoSmithKline Bribery Admissions

(NaturalNews) Radio personality Dr. Drew Pinsky once touted GlaxoSmithKline PLC’s antidepressant Wellbutrin as one of a few such medications he prescribed to patients suffering from depression because it “may enhance or at least not suppress sexual arousal” as much as other antidepressants.

What he didn’t tell listeners during that 1999 endorsement; however, was that two months earlier Dr. Pinsky – who rose to fame as “Dr. Drew,” co-hosting a popular radio sex-advice show, “Loveline” – received the second of two payments from GSK for a total of $275,000 for “services for Wellbutrin,” The Wall Street Journal reported.

The paper said the payments were made to Pinsky via a communications firm that worked for GSK, according to revelations in an attachment to a complaint filed by the U.S. government in October 2011 in a Massachusetts federal court. The documents were disclosed in early July after the Justice Department announced a $3 billion criminal and civil settlement with GSK over illegal medication marketing, among other things.

GlaxoSmithKline Admits to Criminal Pharma Fraud in 3 Billion Dollar Case

British registered company, GlaxoSmithKline, faces $3 billion in penalties after pleading guilty to the biggest health care fraud case in history. GSK admitted that physicians had been bribed to push potentially dangerous drugs in exchange for Madonna tickets, Hawaiian holidays, cash and lucrative speaking tours. They also admitted distributing misleading information regarding the antidepressant Paxil. The report claimed that it was suitable for children, but failed to acknowledge data from studies proving its ineffectiveness in children and adolescents.

Drug Firms Face Bribery Probe from US Department of Justice

Letters from the government to one of the companies, which were reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, identified four types of possible violations: bribing government-employed doctors to purchase drugs; paying company sales agents commissions that are passed along to government doctors; paying hospital committees to approve drug purchases; and paying regulators to win drug approvals.

NY Times—U.S. Broadens Bribery Inquiry Into Drug Makers—Federal Prosecutors Investigating Payments Made to Doctors

At least a dozen major drug and device makers are under investigation by federal prosecutors and securities regulators in a broadening bribery inquiry into whether the companies made illegal payments to doctors and health officials in foreign countries. In previous investigations, federal officials have charged that some companies made these kinds of payments to encourage doctors abroad to order or prescribe their products.