Pfizer Pleads Guilty
By Greg Farrell, USA TODAY - NEW YORK
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer (PFI) agreed to pay $430 million and plead guilty to charges that its epilepsy drug, Neurontin, was marketed for uses unapproved by the federal government. The penalties include a $240 million criminal fine, the second-largest criminal fine in a health-care fraud prosecution, the Justice Department said Thursday. Pfizer, whose 2003 revenue was $45.1 billion, took a $427 million pre-tax charge against earnings last year to pay for the settlement. The company “aggressively marketed" Neurontin to treat bipolar disorder, attention deficit disorder, Lou Gehrig's disease, drug and alcohol
withdrawal seizures, migraine headaches and restless leg syndrome.
A scientific study showed a placebo worked as well as or better than the drug for treating bipolar disorder, Justice said. Warner-Lambert's (owned by Pfizer) marketing tactics included paying doctors to attend "consultants meetings" — sometimes in lavish surroundings in Florida, in Hawaii and at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics — where the doctors heard presentations about off-label uses of Neurontin.