5 Questions for Eliot Spitzer on the Biggest Healthcare Fraud Settlement in History
5 Questions for Eliot Spitzer on the Biggest Healthcare Fraud Settlement in History
Big Pharma gets a Big Fine. Will it be enough to prevent future criminal behavior?
July 5, 2012 |
It’s the largest settlement involving a pharmaceutical company in history. British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges and cough up $3 billion in fines for a long list of nasty and dangerous behavior, including misbranding drugs, failing to report safety data, and using undue influence to sway physicians to prescribe drugs by using everything from free spa treatments to outright bribes. The improper marketing of drugs — especially to children — is perhaps the most disturbing crime of all.
The fine against Glaxo over Paxil, Wellbutrin, and Avandia is big money. But will it change anything? I caught up with Eliot Spitzer, former Attorney General and governor of New York, to shed some light on this historic case. In 2004, Spitzer went after Glaxo for the same kind of fraud related to Paxil. In a settlement, the company was forced to publish details of clinical drug trials it had been concealing and pay a sum of $2.5 million. Spitzer’s pursuit of Glaxo paved the way for this week’s record-breaking settlement.