Glaxo to pay $750 million in adulterated drugs case

Glaxo to pay $750 million in adulterated drugs case

www.reuters.com

GlaxoSmithKline Plc has agreed to pay $750 million and plead guilty to manufacturing and distributing adulterated drugs from a now closed plant in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday...

...The drugs -- the anti-nausea medicine Kytril, skin ointment Bactroban, anti-depressant Paxil CR and diabetes drug Avandamet -- were made at the plant between 2001 and 2005.

The company was accused of failing to ensure the drugs were properly manufactured at the plant and thus effective...

(visit the link for the full news article)

Not only am I impressed that a REAL penalty was handed down, but also the fact that the company had to plead guilty too.

-No $100 000 slap on the wrist
-No sealed plea bargin with a non-disclosure provision.

Even better, no excuses

Asked during a news conference if the actions by the company were intentional, Carmen Ortiz, the U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts, said that was the government's contention.

"They received warning letters from the FDA and yet they went ignored," she told reporters.

Although this will probably be spun so that it was the mean Puerto Rican's and thier shoddy work ethic who took advantage of a poor drug company's trust in humanity, at least it is something.

What I'm curious about though is the plant closure...

"GSK worked hard to resolve fully the manufacturing issues at the Cidra facility prior to its closure in 2009 and we are committed to continuous improvement in our manufacturing processes," PD Villarreal, the company's head of global litigation, said in a statement.

Villarreal said the plant was closed because of declining demand for the medicines made there, and that the company no longer owned the facility.

I can obviously see the company wanting to put as much distance between them and the plant/case as possible, but I question the excuse. By closing the plant they can now wipe thier hands clean over the whole deal, but I have to wonder what other problems where there but not discovered in the persuit of this particular case.

Close it down and sell it before anyone starts looking at other products?

Makes you wonder, what have they gotten away with?

www.reuters.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Thanks for a nice story.
Yet nobody seems interested in Glaxo criminal record here.
I posted recently two items on this subject with amazingly low impact
www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Strangely, "medical conspiracies" is one of the least popular forums at ATS.

Having worked for the unethical bastards, I can say that Glaxo is a highly unethical company. They create new diseases to extend the patent on their drugs (can anyone say 'social anxiety' just as Paxil was losing it's patent protection), they tell their drug reps to push various drugs 'off label' without any idea if the drug will work in a given disease state, and they fly the 'key physicians' that are high prescribers to resorts all over the country to learn more about their product while enjoying the Ritz Carlton and comped massages. My sales budget was so lavish, that I felt guilty throwing around the money I did. It wasn't unusual for me to spend 3k on dinner for a party of 30......and I was encouraged to do so.

Not only that, they treat their employees horribly. My friend who sold antidepressants, was fired when she became depressed and applied for a temporary medical leave. What a company!