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Sarah Sanchez
Professor Nathan Cole
ENGL-2010-416-Sp15 SPRING 2015
Position Paper

The FRAUDaceutical Industry

Medication is a big part of our society. It pretty much controls anyone

taking it. If youre feeling some type of way theres a pill for that. There
are multiple issues when it comes to medication. Not only do the side effects
sometimes outweigh the benefits, or the insurance companies wont
completely pay for the medication, but there is the big dishonest business
behind it all. If you havent heard of the millions and billions pharmaceutical
companies pay out in lawsuits every year, then you might be surprised to
find out that the amount is merely a dent in their pocket. These companies
make billions by committing fraud and only have to pay a percentage of that
back. Most of these law-suits are because of misleading patients with offlabel promotion and usage of certain medications. This starts directly from
the pharmaceutical company representatives down to the patient through
marketing.

Big Pharma will always be a profitable industry. Most of us take

medication at some point and vaccinate ourselves as well as our children.
Imagine this, in 2001 the Chief Executive Officer of Pharmaceutical Company
Bristol-Myers Squibb made nearly $75 million and the chairman of
pharmaceutical company Wyeth made $40.5 million annually. To give you
another idea of how profitable these companies are; On February 5, 2015,
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pharmaceutical company Pfitzer spent $17 billion to purchase Hospira, Inc.

the worlds leading provider in injectable drugs (shots). This is about one
week after the same company Pfitzer agreed to pay $400 million dollars as
a resolution to settle a class-action lawsuit because of off-label marketing.
As I stated before dent in their pocket. This recent settlement was for the
investors that lost money because of false sales boost from illegally
marketing medication for purposes that were not approved by the Food and
Drug Administration (FDA.)
It seems that there is a magic pill out there that can cure anything. At
least that is what some pharmaceutical companies want you to believe.
Much of the fraud settlements that pharmaceutical companies have to pay
come from off-label promotion. This is when the prescription drugs are being
prescribed and promoted for uses that have not been approved by the FDA.
Pfizer, experienced one of the largest settlements of $2.3 billion in
September 2009 for off-label marketing. The medications involved were
Geodon, an antipsychotic, painkiller Bextra, antibiotic Lyrica, and Zyvox.
Patients were using Lyrica, a medication for seizures to treat migraines and
bi-polar disorder. Lyrica had many side effects like weight gain, blurred
vision, sleepiness, muscle problems and even effects the reproduction
system in both males and females and suicide. These are only some of the
side-effects of Lyrica, because of this, one might only want to take this if
medically necessary right?

The Pharmaceutical industry is no rookie when it comes to

advertisement. We have all seen the ads on tv telling us to go to our doctor
with the list of symptoms they tell us they can cure. There are many ways
they get their medication out there commercials, print ads, radio ads, web
ads, clinical trials, education and promotional meetings and one of the most
effective; sampling (The Pew Charitable Trusts.). Pharmaceutical sales
representatives meet with doctors and invite them to dinner meetings, they
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give them samples and brochures to give to their patients. There are multiple
ways they get their products out there so it isnt difficult for mis-information
to get in the hands of the patients regarding usage of medication.

They are rich, they lie and they deceive us through our own doctors,
the people we are supposed to trust, and yet we still give in to them because
of our own unawareness and lack of knowledge. There are people out there
that do not use medication and actually use google as their MD, and there
are the ones that want medication for every known issue. However the most
important people to think about on this topic are the ones that are only living
today because of their medication. There is no doubt that they are being
over charged. We do need medication, but we need them to be prescribed
as they are made for so that we do not suffer. These business are getting rich
off our illnesses, lets not let them take advantage of it.

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Work Cited
Angell, Marica. "The Truth About the Drug Companies." July 15, 2004. Web. Apr 20,
2105.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2004/jul/15/the-truth-about-thedrug-companies/
Culp-Ressler, Tara. Obamacare Has Helped Seniors Save over $6 Billion on Their
Prescription
Drugs. Mar 21, 2013. WEB. April 20, 2015
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/03/21/1754711/obamacare-donut-hole6-billion/
Harris, Gardiner. Pfizer Pays $2.3 Billion to Settle Marketing Case. Sept 2, 2009.
The New York
Times. Web. Apr 24, 2015
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/business/03health.html?_r=0
Parker|Waichman LLP. Lyrica Side Effects May Be Linked to Suicide Lawsuits. Web.
April 27,
2014. http://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/lyrica
Pfizer. Pfizer to Acquire Hospira. Feb 5, 2015. Web. Apr 24, 2015.
http://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-releasedetail/pfizer_to_acquire_hospira
Silverman, Ed. Pfizer to Pay $400M to settle Shareholder Suit over off-label
Marketing. Jan 27,
2015. The Wall Street Journal. Web. Apr 27, 2015.
http://blogs.wsj.com/pharmalot/2015/01/27/pfizer-to-pay-400m-to-settleshareholder-suit-over-off-label-marketing/
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The Pew Charitable Trusts. Persuading the Prescribers: Pharmaceutical Industry
Marketing and
its influence on Physicians and Patients. Nov 11, 2013. Web. Apr 20, 2015.
http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/factsheets/2013/11/11/persuading-the-prescribers-pharmaceutical-industrymarketingand-its-influence-on-physicians-and-patients
Wittich, Christopher M., Burkle. Christopher M., Lanierb. William, L. Ten Common
Questions (and Their
Answers) About Off-label Drug Use. Oct 2012. Mayo Clin Proc. Web.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3538391