Study Finds Pharma Wrongdoing on the Rise
In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers at the Public Citizen’s Health Research Group tracked the civil and criminal financial penalties levied against the pharmaceutical industry for wrongdoing over the past 20 years.
The main findings of the study revealed:
- Of the 165 settlements comprising $19.8 billion in penalties during this 20-year interval, 73 percent of the settlements (121) and 75 percent of the penalties ($14.8 billion) have occurred in just the past five years (2006-2010).
- Four companies (GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Eli Lilly, and Schering-Plough) accounted for more than half (53 percent or $10.5 billion) of all financial penalties imposed over the past two decades. These leading violators were among the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies.
- The practice of illegal off-label promotion of pharmaceuticals has been responsible for the largest amount of financial penalties levied by the federal government over the past 20 years. This practice can be prosecuted as a criminal offense because of the potential for serious adverse health effects in patients from such activities.
- Deliberately overcharging state health programs, mainly Medicaid fraud, has been the most common violation against state governments and is responsible for the largest amount of financial penalties levied by these governments. This type of violation is also the main factor in the considerable increase in state settlements with pharmaceutical companies over time.
- Former pharmaceutical company employees and other “whistleblowers” have been instrumental in bringing to light the most egregious violations and have been responsible for initiating the largest number of federal settlements over the past 10 years. From 1991 through 2000, qui tam (whistleblower) cases made up only 9 percent of payouts to the government, but from 2001 through 2010, they comprised 67 percent of total payouts.
The companies, their missteps and the fines imposed are shown below:
The authors conclude:
"Over the past two decades, especially during the past 10 years, there has been a marked increase in both the number of government settlements with pharmaceutical companies and the size of the accompanying financial penalties. Given the relatively small size of current financial penalties when compared to the perpetrating companies’ profits, both increased financial penalties and appropriate criminal prosecution of company leadership may provide a more effective deterrent to unlawful behavior by the pharmaceutical industry."
Interestingly, about a month ago officials at the US Food and Drug Administration signaled that were willing to prosecute company executives to the fullest extent possible (including criminal prosecution) to reduce the incidence of fraud, off-label marketing and manufacturing violations that have become commonplace in the pharmaceutical industry in the past five years.
Until next time....
Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!
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As you may know, BioJobBlogger was recently sued for defamation, invasion of privacy and punitive damages by Donna Roberts and Dawn Abrams two so called dog breeder. .jpg)
Summer has finally arrived and everyone I know is kicking back, looking forward to their previously planned vacations and enjoying their four day (summer hours) work week. While many folks still have jobs, the unemployment rates are not dropping as quickly as anticipated and large numbers of layed-off and right-sized former life sciences employees are still without jobs. 
As many of you know, I have had an ongoing dispute with a nefarious dog grifter (.jpg)
Despite a down economy, it appears that business for the dog grifting team of Donna Roberts aka Marcie Duben (and many other false identities) and Dawn Abrams is booming. The reason that I know this is that over the past week or so I have received several message regarding from BioJobBlog readers about bogus dog transactions.(2).jpg)
Despite court rulings, statewide investigations and public humiliation, Dawn Abrams and Donna Roberts continue to scam would be dog owners who want to buy puppies and give them good homes. .jpg)
For the past year or so, I have been dealing with 
m another one of Grace Abrams’ grifting victims. Apparently, this individual purchased a sick puppy from Ms. Abrams several months ago which at one year old developed some problems that likely resulted from congenital defects due to inbreeding. This person told me that a friend of hers also purchased a ‘Havanese” from Ms. Abrams which they suspect really isn’t a Havanese (despite ‘papers’ that indicate that it is). As you may recall, we also received suspect pedigree papers for the dogs that we purchased from Ms. Abrams (.jpg)
ple have read the post and I am now starting to receive comments from people who have had similar experiences to mine after purchasing puppies from Ms. Roberts and her daughter Grace aka Dawn Abrams. Check out 
As you may recall, I purchased two dogs, a 10 week old Havanese puppy and a supposed 9- month old male Havanese “rescue puppy” named Marcus (now called Moose, see pic) from a New Jersey dog breeder named Dawn aka Grace Abrams. From the outset, we had suspicions about Moose’s age and true heritage. Our suspicions were heightened after our veterinarian announced that Moose was much older than 9 months and that he was suffering from ear and urinary tract infections, two types of intestinal worms and had 4 loose teeth because of periodontal disease. Also, Moose didn’t look anything like Sandy. Based on photos we found online, Moose looked more like a Maltese than a Havanese—something that was verified by casual conversations with Maltese owners and many veterinary professionals. 
The New York times reported today
