Pfizer to pay Utah $3.5M settlement

The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has agreed to pay a record $2.3 billion in fines — including $3.5 million to Utah — to settle criminal and civil cases that claimed the drug company defrauded several federal health programs and put patients in danger.

The $1.3 billion criminal fine in this case is the biggest ever ordered in the United States.

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said the settlement addresses illegal kickbacks and "off-label marketing campaigns," or efforts to bribe doctors to prescribe Pfizer's medications for purposes other than those for which they were legally approved.

"Pfizer's failure to comply with the law is an example of corporate greed and placing profits before patient safety," Shurtleff said. "Utah will continue to aggressively pursue drug companies that place our citizens at risk by marketing drugs for uses that have not been tested or approved."

Paul Murphy, spokesman for the attorney general's office, said one disturbing example was Pfizer's illegal promotion of the anti-psychotic medicine Geodon for such things as attention deficit disorder, depression and autism in young children and teens.

Murphy said the pharmaceutical company would give doctors bribes, usually cash kickbacks, but also such things as all-expenses paid trips to luxury resorts, in an effort to get physicians to prescribe its medications.

A Pfizer representative said the company does "regret" its past actions, but she hailed the resolution to these "significant legal matters" and spoke optimistically about steps the firm has taken to strengthen its internal controls.

The claims against Pfizer allege that it marketed Bextra, an anti-inflammatory medicine pulled from the market in 2005, for such things as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and menstrual cramps, even though it was not approved for those ailments; pushed doses that were too large; and lied about the drug's safety.

In addition, Pfizer was accused of promoting Lyrica, a pain medication, for unauthorized purposes and making false statements about its antibiotic Zyvox.

There also are allegations that Pfizer gave cash to health-care professionals to hawk and prescribe such drugs as Viagra, Zoloft, Zithromax, Lipitor, Celebrex, Aricept, Norvasc, Relpax and Zyrtec.

Amy W. Schulman, senior vice president and general counsel for Pfizer, said the company "expressly denies" the civil allegations, "with the exception that Pfizer acknowledges certain improper actions related to the promotion of Zyvox.