GlaxoSmithKline to Pay $3 Billion in Fraud Settlement

GlaxoSmithKline will pay the U.S. government $3 Billion after pleading guilty to promoting Paxil and Wellbutrin for unapproved uses. This is the largest health care fraud settlement in American history.

Obviously they could still afford to settle which is kinda infuriating. GlaxoSmithKline earned a profit of $3 Billion in the last quarter of 2011 alone. Profit!

From AP:

From AP:

GlaxoSmithKline LLC will pay $3 billion and plead guilty to promoting two popular drugs for unapproved uses and to failing to disclose important safety information on a third in the largest health care fraud settlement in U.S. history, the Justice Department said Monday.

Accompanying the criminal case was a civil settlement in which the government said the company's improper marketing included providing doctors with expensive resort vacations, European hunting trips, high-paid speaking tours and even tickets to a Madonna concert.

The $3 billion combined criminal-civil fine will be the largest penalty ever paid by a drug company, Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole said. The corporation also agreed to be monitored by government officials for five years to attempt to ensure the company's compliance, Cole said.

"Let me be clear, we will not tolerate health care fraud," Cole told a news conference at the Justice Department. He would not say whether any company executives were under investigation. The company's guilty plea and sentence have to be approved by a federal court in Massachusetts.