The 3 Monkeys Guide to Health blog has an excellent post about the enormous fines levied against the drug company Pfizer, and the distorted claims being made about the situation: Pfizer Pleads Guilty, Pays $2.3 Billion For Off-Label Use of Bextra, Zyvox, Geodon and Lyrica.

In this case it was overzealous sales reps without sufficient oversight who caused the problem, and you can be certain Pfizer will implement better controls to keep it from happening again.

All too many people have this notion that big pharmaceutical companies are evil and working against the interests of the common man. The settlement will do nothing to deter that view, but it is far from the truth. Those misconceptions derive from a lack of understanding of the drug discovery process and the high costs associated with it.

Read the whole thing…