Forest Labs In Tentative Deal Over Marketing Probe
3 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // November 9th, 2009 // 6:00 pm
The drugmaker reached a tentative settlement with the US Attorney in Boston and the US Department of Justice’s, which charged that its antidepressants and a thyroid drug were marketed improperly. However, a criminal probe continues, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (see page 15).
As it turns, an agreement in principle was reached in May concerning the civil investigation being conducted by federal and state authorities. The penalties are covered by a $170 million reserve Forest created in April. But the arrangement “does not resolve the government’s ongoing investigation into potential criminal law violations” related to the Celexa and Lexapro antidepressants, as well as the Levothroid thyroid drug.
In February, the U.S. Justice Department unsealed a lawsuit in U.S. District for the District of Massachusetts alleging Forest marketed the antidepressants for unapproved uses in children, and paid kickbacks to induce doctors to prescribe the drugs, Dow Jones reminds us.
pharmagossip
And those $%&*$**** over at DrugWanks say that Jerry Avorn’s quote “Marketing departments of many drug companies don’t respect any boundaries of professionalism or the law.” is “Untrue and unfair.”
Good job I’ve given them a sidewiki!
Batman
Sounds like they got off very cheap on this settlement. They must have had their lawyers wearing masks. They still robbed the states.
Anne PME
It does sound like they have gotten off cheaply, especially given the current CRITICAL shortage of certain thyroid medicines (and additional expense) that appear to have been precipitated by Forest Laboratories.
Did anyone else notice that some of the generic companies associated with this settlement have also apparently managed to stay under DOJ’s radar screen?