COVID-19 Vaccine Maker Pfizer Paid $2.3 Billion In Largest Healthcare Fraud Settlement in History

December 30, 2020
Did you know the COVID-19 vaccine maker Pfizer in 2009, had to pay $2.3 billion in the largest healthcare fraud settlement in history to resolve criminal and civil liability arising from the illegal promotion of certain pharmaceutical products.
American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. and its subsidiary Pharmacia & Upjohn Company Inc. in 2009, agreed to pay $2.3 billion in the largest health care fraud settlement in the history of the US Department of Justice, to resolve criminal and civil liability arising from the illegal promotion of certain pharmaceutical products.
Pfizer plead guilty for misbranding Bextra with the intent to defraud or mislead. Bextra is an anti-inflammatory drug that Pfizer pulled from the market in 2005.
Pfizer promoted the sale of Bextra for several uses and dosages that the US FDA (Food and Drug Administration) specifically declined to approve due to safety concerns. The company paid a criminal fine of $1.195 billion, the largest criminal fine ever imposed in the United States for any matter. Pfizer also had to forfeit $105 million, for a total criminal resolution of $1.3 billion.
In addition, Pfizer agreed to pay $1 billion to resolve allegations that
the company illegally promoted four drugs – Bextra; Geodon, an anti-psychotic drug; Zyvox, an antibiotic; and Lyrica, an anti-epileptic drug – and caused false claims to be submitted to government health care programs for uses that were not medically accepted indications and therefore not covered by those programs.
The civil settlement also resolved allegations that Pfizer paid kickbacks to health care providers to induce them to prescribe these, as well as other, drugs. This is the largest civil fraud settlement in history against a pharmaceutical company.
As part of the settlement, Pfizer also agreed to enter into an expansive corporate integrity agreement with the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services. That agreement provides for procedures and reviews to be put in place to avoid and promptly detect conduct similar to that which gave rise to this matter.
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