www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0703/breaking4.html

Drugs firm GlaxoSmithKline will pay $3 billion (€2.38 billion) in fines after admitting to the largest healthcare fraud in US history.

The pharmaceutical company was accused of bribing doctors in the United States to prescribe medicines for unapproved uses, with potentially dangerous side effects.

Glaxo, which is based in west London and has household names such as Lucozade and Ribena under its brand, is due to plead guilty to criminal and civil offences involving 10 drugs taken by millions of people.

The firm has manufacturing operations in Cork and Dungarvan and employs about 1,500 people in Ireland.

Prosecutors said that between 1998 and 2003, Glaxo illegally promoted anti-depressant Paxil for treating depression in children, even though it was not approved for under 18s.

The company also promoted Wellbutrin from 1999 to 2003 for weight loss, sexual dysfunction, substance addictions and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, although it was approved only for treatment of major depression.

Glaxo will admit failing to report to the government for seven years on safety problems with the diabetes drug Avandia, which was restricted in the United States and banned in Europe after it was found in 2007 to sharply increase the risks of heart attacks and congestive heart failure.

Glaxo has also agreed to resolve civil liability for promoting asthma drug Advair and two lesser-known drugs for unapproved uses.

The company also resolved accusations that it overcharged the government-funded Medicaid programme for some drugs and that it bribed doctors to prescribe several medicines including asthma drug Flovent and herpes medicine Valtrex.

Sir Andrew Witty, Glaxo’s chief executive, expressed regret yesterday and said the company had learned “from the mistakes that were made”.

He said: “Today brings to resolution difficult, long-standing matters for GSK. Whilst these originate in a different era for the company, they cannot and will not be ignored.

“On behalf of GSK, I want to express our regret and reiterate that we have learnt from the mistakes that were made.

“We are deeply committed to doing everything we can to live up to and exceed the expectations of those we work with and serve. Since I became CEO, we have had a clear priority to ingrain a culture of putting patients first, acting transparently, respecting people inside and outside the organisation and displaying integrity in everything we do.”

Mr Witty said the company had “fundamentally changed” its procedures for compliance, marketing and selling, and that Glaxo understood “how important it is that our medicines are appropriately promoted to healthcare professionals and that we adhere to the standards rightly expected by the US government”.

In addition to the $3 billion penalty - which includes a $1 billion criminal fine and forfeiture and $2 billion to resolve civil claims - Glaxo agreed to be monitored by the US government for five years to ensure the company complies with marketing and other rules.

While doctors are allowed to prescribe medicines for any use, pharmaceutical firms cannot promote them in any way not approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

“Let me be clear, we will not tolerate health care fraud,” US deputy attorney general James Cole said at the justice department in Washington yesterday.


They don't tolerate it but they'll just give them a fine that reduces the tax they have to pay.
And we're all bloody conspiracy nutters right??!!

andyh wrote:
It's a fucking joke. They should be hung out to dry for this!

A very close family member used to work for them in London and to say it caused him stress is putting it mildly. He had what can only be descirbed as a 'crisis of conscience' on an almost daily basis. He ended up quitting for reasons he's never actually gone into it.

Glasko is a prime example of the epitome of evil.

psketti wrote:
What really bloody irritates me is if I tell people that drug companies are paying doctors backhanders to prescribe crap drugs they roll their eyes and call me a conspiracy theorist...even AFTER its in the fucking news!!!!

AAARRRGGHHH!!! Is humanity really this fecking stupid ffs...

andyh wrote:
Amazing isn't it? My mother is on anticonvuslants. She was put on them after having many gran-mal seizures caused by brain tumors. The side effects are horrible. What's worse is she will likely be stuck on them for life. After researching the particular meds she's on, I found that there is a high mortality rate among those who tried to ween themselves off of the drug. What really boiled by blood was claim that it's non-habit forming. Really, then why is the brain completely dependent on them after repeated use? Sounds habit forming to me. What makes me angrier is knowing that these drugs are still being prescribed to people.
How anyone can ignore the obvious fact that the pharmaceutical industry is not out to cure anything, is both maddening and awe-inspiring. It's a for-profit business, and always has been. Healthy people are bad for their business.

Mrindigo wrote:
Sorry to hear about this, Indie. One of my best friends just lost her twin son last week during one of his seizures He had a concussion a few years ago at the age of nine. His doctor was very negligent in his case and the meds he was administered just were to mask the problem. It could have been more to it that I am unaware of.

Sending my blessings to your mother

andyh wrote: Apathy can be a coping mechanism for some. Just be sure all the information you share isn't 100% conspiracy related. Try sandwiching the proof of conspiracy between two facts during a conversation:

Did you know Hitler was ticklish?
Pharmaceutical companies pay doctors to prescribe their medication, and in some cases against the intended use!
Dogs and bees can smell fear!

dneif wrote:
Everything I share is MSM stuff, 100% known to be factual.
Some of its even on bloody wikipedia lol!!

I've had a lot of involvement with the NHS this year. Something I've noticed is that my GP, when issuing a prescription, will invariably say, "if I write this as a private prescription, you'll get it cheaper". I've thought about this and can't help but think that he may not be saying it as a direct concern for my purse contents. That he may in fact be acting in line with an arrangement he has with a pharma company. I haven't looked into it though.

Glaxo are well known for their questionable practices. Here again we have another example of a token fine being issued that does nothing to dissuade a TNC from carrying on regardless (GSK have stated they'll pay the fine from existing reserves ). Things like this are designed to give the impression that ethics etc are taken seriously and that TNCs are accountable to the people.

Yeah... I find I refer people to LMGTFY and wikipedia a lot. Smedley Butler's "War is a Racket" is a great lead into "The Business Plot", which opens a huge can of worms for skeptics

Mountain wrote:
My heart goes out to your friend and her family for the loss of her son, that's terrible. There does seem to be a lot of negligence in the medical field. Doctors don't really study nutrition in depth, namely because all most of them do is throw pills and suggest unneeded surgical procedures when symptoms match to certain criteria. My mother was told that all she had was left over scar tissue after having an MRI. That doctor left for another state. Her new doctor at the time looked at the scans and became immediately alarmed. It was another tumor. She needed surgery again to remove it, because it had progressed too much to be dealt with in non surgical methods. What could have been easily dealt with, was let go because of incompetence.

It's a slap on the wrist for Glaxo.

Right now they are negotiating a hostile takeover of Human Genome Sciences so I think they are planning more hideous debauchery, on an even bigger scale. If you can imagine that.

andyh wrote:
So true. The faith people have in the medical industry is truly astounding. It makes so called religious fanatics look like atheists ffs.

The fine barely makes even the tiniest of dents in GSK's overheads.

Mrindigo wrote:
Thank you, I appreciate that Indie. He was one of the sweetest children I ever encountered and very affectionate and protective of his mother and siblings. He would sit with his mother and hold her hand and accompany out to the veranda and just smile holding her hand. Sometimes he joined us on our nature walks along the river. I was heartbroken and cried when she told me, but I felt his presence the following days which comforted me and when I told her, she was pleased as well.

Oh yes there is alot of negligence. In the case with my friend, her son's doctor was supposed to monitor the effects of the medications he prescribed but failed to do so. The doctor scheduled only annual visits for him, when he should have been seeing him much more frequently because he was still having seizures in his sleep and also because he was autistic.

The medical industry today has left me wary of doctors. but I know there are some good ones with genuine interests in helping people to heal and recover. Your mother's former doctor ought to be ashamed and is prolly the reason why they left. Its a good thing your mother had gotten that new doctor. Sometimes there is good that comes from the bad things, little blessings in disguise.