Public Citizen: 25 años de "Pharmaceutical Industry Criminal and Civil Penalties" (1991-2015

 From 1991 through 2015, GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer reached the most settlements (31 each) and paid the most in financial penalties — $7.9 billion and $3.9 billion, respectively —to the federal and state governments. Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Abbott, Eli Lilly, Teva, Schering-Plough, Novartis, and AstraZeneca also paid more than $1 billion in financial penalties. 

Thirty-one companies entered into repeat settlements with the federal government from 1991 through 2015, with Pfizer (11), GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Bristol-Myers Squibb (eight each), and Merck (seven) finalizing the most federal settlements.

The number and size of federal and state settlements against the pharmaceutical industry decreased significantly in 2014 and 2015. It remains to be seen whether this decline represents a longer-term trend. 

Financial penalties continued to pale in comparison to company profits, with the $35.7 billion in penalties from 1991 through 2015 amounting to only 5% of the $711 billion in net profits made by the 11 largest global drug companies during just 10 of those 25 years (2003-2012). To our knowledge, a parent company has never been excluded from participation in Medicare and Medicaid for illegal activities, which endanger the public health and deplete taxpayer-funded programs. Nor has almost any senior executive been given a jail sentence for leading companies engaged in these illegal activities. Much larger penalties and successful prosecutions of company executives that oversee systemic fraud, including jail sentences if appropriate, are necessary to deter future unlawful behavior. Otherwise, these illegal but profitable activities will continue to be part of companies’ business model. (Más)