The Top Eight Largest Drug Lawsuit Settlements of All Time
- Top Pharmaceutical Lawsuit Settlements at a Glance.
- GlaxoSmithKline Fraud Case. The largest pharmaceutical lawsuit settlement of all time was reached in 2012 when...
- Pfizer Bextra Case. In 2009, Pfizer paid $2.3 billion to settle allegations that they illegally marketed the pain killer...
What was the largest pharmaceutical lawsuit settlement?
The largest pharmaceutical lawsuit settlement of all time was reached in 2012 when GlaxoSmithKline agreed to pay $3 billion ($2 billion in civil penalties and $1 billion in criminal fines). The lawsuit involved the fraudulent sale of antidepressants for unapproved uses and failure to report safety information about a diabetes drug.
What are pharmaceutical lawsuits?
history. Many of these lawsuits have involved manufacturers’ use of deceptive practices to promote drug uses not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Why was GlaxoSmithKline fined?
Later that year, the Chinese government fined them $500 million for offering kickbacks and laundering payments through travel agencies.
How much did Johnson and Johnson pay for Risperdal?
Johnson & Johnson Risperdal Settlement. In 2009, Johnson & Johnson paid $2.2 billion to settle allegations that they promoted drugs like Risperdal for unapproved uses and paid kickbacks to doctors who recommended their drugs.
How much did GlaxoSmithKline settle the lawsuit?
They also alleged concealment of data showing heart risks posed by the anti-diabetes drug Avandia. The $3 billion settlement amount is only a small fraction of what GlaxoSmithKline made over the period covered by the lawsuit.
How much did Eli Lilly pay for Zyprexa?
Pharmaceutical titan Eli Lilly & Company paid $1.415 billion for marketing the anti-psychotic Zyprexa as an off-label treatment for aggression, Alzheimer’s disease, and other problems in elderly patients. They were accused of intentionally targeting nursing homes and assisted living facilities, as well as primary care physicians, though Zyprexa was not approved for use in primary care.
Why are Americans taking more prescription drugs than ever before?
Due partly to medical advances, Americans are taking more prescription drugs than ever before to treat various conditions. This increased dependence on pharmaceuticals could pose its own risks, however, especially if the drugs aren’t properly vetted or are taken in unapproved ways. Pharmaceutical lawsuits have yielded some ...
What was the Pfizer settlement?
Pfizer is a pharmaceutical giant in the industry, and the settlement against them in 2009 is still the most massive criminal fine imposed on a drug company to date. A fine of 2.3 billon dollars given by United States Department of Justice was paid. This drug settlement included their drugs Lyrica, Bextra, Zyvox, and Geodon. This settlement was the result of both off-label use and kickbacks as in the Johnson and Johnson settlement.
What drugs were settled by GlaxoSmithKline?
They include Zofran, Paxil, Valtrex, Avandia, Flovent, Wellbutrin, Imitrex, Advair, Lamictal, and Lotronex. The settlement for GlaxoSmithKline was three billion dollars. It included one billion dollars in criminal fines and two billion dollars for the civil settlement. The criminal violations included off-label promotion and their failure to inform the public about safety data regarding the drugs. The civil violations included kickbacks to doctors, false and misleading claims when it came to the safety of Avandia, underpaying rebates for the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, and giving the public wrong best prices. These alleged actions violated both the False Claims Act and the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.
What drugs did Johnson and Johnson manufacture?
Risperdal, Nesiritide, and Invega are all produced by Johnson & Johnson. Each of these drugs was part of a drug settlement for 2.2 billion dollars due to the use of off-label promotion in 2013. In addition to the allegation of off-label promotion, Johnson & Johnson was also alleged to have use kickbacks to promote their drugs. This action is a type of bribery where a commission is given for a service. Both of these allegations had the result that the drug manufacturer was found to have violated several acts. Both the False Claims Act and the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act violations resulted in this drug settlement.
What did Eli Lilly settle with?
Back in 2009, Eli Lilly had a settlement with the United States Department of Justice in the amount of 1.4 billion dollars. This settlement stemmed from their promotion of off-label uses for their drug, Zyprexa. Off-label uses mean that the drug company said it could be used for conditions that were outside of what the United States Food and Drug Administration’s agreed to for the drugs.
Is the drug industry expensive?
However, it can be just as expensive when problems with side effects can occur. There are times when drugs and medical devices are developed and rushed to market for one reason or another. Lawsuits happen when unknown side effects harm the public. Currently, several suits going through this process including many for Invokana. Here are several of the most significant drug settlements in U.S. History.
Why are there lawsuits against drug companies?
In many of these cases, the lawsuits were filed because drug manufacturers promoted their products for uses outside of the scope of FDA approval.
When a company can claim that a drug is used for more purposes than it’s actually approved for, it?
When a company can claim that a drug is used for more purposes than it’s actually approved for, it can sell more product. And, in some cases, these uses aren’t inherently unsafe — they’re just not approved by the FDA.
How much did Amgen pay?
Amgen paid a criminal fine of $136 million and criminal forfeiture of $14 million. It paid $612 million to the federal government and $24.8 million to the states as its civil settlements.
What was the Pfizer fine?
The criminal fine was $1.3 billion , and the additional $1 billion was for civil allegations under the False Claims Act. Pfizer falsely promoted Bextra, antipsychotic drug Geodon, antibiotic Zyvox, and antiepileptic Lyrica. The company was also accused of paying kickbacks related to these drugs and submitting false claims to government health care programs based on uses that weren’t medically accepted.
What drugs are given kickbacks?
Giving kickbacks to physicians for prescribing Imitrex, Lotronex, Flovent, and Valtrex.
When was Seroquel approved?
Seroquel is an antipsychotic drug manufactured by AstraZeneca that was approved in 1997 by the FDA for treatment of psychotic disorders. In 2000, that approval was proposed to be narrowed to short-term treatment of schizophrenia only. In 2004, it was narrowed to short-term treatment of acute manic episodes associated with bipolar disorder. It was later approved for bipolar depression.
Why are the manufacturers being sued?
That’s why the manufacturers are the ones being sued — they’re misleading doctors and the public about how these drugs function and what they can do.
10 Biggest Pharmaceutical Settlements in History
Imagine now that if these pharmaceuticals, (that are manufacturing this Covid poison), were to be held accountable for death or injury caused by their shots. ??? They were given blanket immunity by the Biden Administration to lawsuits through the FDA’s EUA, (Emergency Use Authorization).
Pharmaceutical company settlement amounts
Let’s take a look at the top 10 pharmaceutical settlements, in order of dollar amounts (highest to lowest). These can include a combination of criminal fines and civil settlements:
What was the Johnson and Johnson lawsuit?
Johnson & Johnson’s sales reps were found to have been marketing the drug for use in calming elderly dementia patients, and encouraging doctors to prescribe them for use by children or people with mental disabilities. The lawsuit also included the company’s deceptive marketing of the drugs Invega and Natrecor. This was one of the largest lawsuit settlements during the 2000s, and one of the largest in history.
What drug company is responsible for the penalty for a violation of the FDA?
GlaxoSmithKline has the dubious honor of paying the largest legal penalties of any other drugmaker for several violations of FDA rules. The company, which manufactured Paxil, Wellbutrin, and Avandia, promoted these drugs for off-label uses. They also paid kickbacks to doctors for prescribing Flovent, Valtrex and Imitrex, used to treat asthma, genital herpes, and migraine headaches. They were also charged with making false statements about the safety of Avandia, one of the company’s most popular drugs.
What drug was Pfizer fined for?
Drugmaker Pfizer was hit with a $1.3 billion criminal fine and a $1 million civil fine for falsely promoting three drugs–Bextra, Lyrica, and Zyvox— used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, epilepsy, and infection, respectively. The company paid kickbacks to doctors for prescribing these drugs and was accused of submitting false claims to Medicaid for uses that were not medically approved. At least one of the drugs, Bextra, was taken off the market following the ruling.
Why do pharmaceutical companies have a duty of care?
Pharmaceutical companies have a duty of care to provide safe and effective medication and to be transparent about the risks and side effects. In addition, they are expected not to pay doctors to recommend their drugs to patients. When these duties are breached, innocent people can get hurt.
Why is Depakote used in nursing homes?
Depakote was a wildly popular drug, originally approved to treat seizures, migraines, and bipolar mania. Abbot discovered that there was high profit in marketing it as a treatment for schizophrenia and dementia. Nursing home administrators all over the country bought the drug, administering it liberally to their disoriented dementia patients to keep them sedated and calm. For more than eight years, the company marketed Depakote to nursing homes, even though there had been clinical trial evidence that suggested that it was dangerous when used with these populations.
10. Breast implants
Dow Corning Corporation agreed in 1998 to pay out more than $3.2 billion to around 170,000 women to settle a class action lawsuit claiming injuries and illnesses caused by silicone breast implants.
9. Cendant Corporation accounting fraud
Accounting irregularities uncovered at travel and real estate company Cendant Corporation in 1998 led to a $3.2 billion settlement that was approved for shareholders two years later. Cendant was formed via a merger between CUC International and HFS Inc. in 1997.
8. Native American trust lands
The federal government agreed to a $3.4 billion settlement in 2009 after 13 years of litigation over the question of whether it had improperly managed income from lands that were supposed to be held in trust for Native Americans.
7. Fen-Phen diet drugs
In 2000, a federal judge approved a $3.75 billion settlement in a class action lawsuit against drug company American Home Products, makers of fenfluramine, after the fen-phen diet drug combination was linked to potentially fatal heart valve damage.
6. WorldCom accounting fraud
WorldCom, the long distance telephone company that has since changed its name and been purchased by Verizon, had to pay out more than $6.1 billion in settlements after it admitted that the company had inflated assets between 1999 and 2002.
4. Enron securities fraud
In the biggest securities settlement of all time, shareholders in Enron were approved to receive $7.2 billion in 2008 after years of litigation over the infamous scandal.
3. Volkswagen emissions scandal
A $14.7 billion settlement was approved in 2019 in connection with the Volkswagen emissions scandal. The German automaker had installed “defeat devices” that allowed more than 500,000 of its diesel vehicles to automatically detect the conditions of an emissions test in the United States and change their driving behavior.
Who was Betsy Bullock sued for?
Sticking with the smoking theme, a jury in Los Angeles awarded $28 billion in damages to Betsy Bullock, a lifelong smoker who filed a lawsuit against R.J. Reynolds after being diagnosed with lung cancer.
How much did the jury award to the family of the van that exploded?
A jury in Los Angeles awarded $4.9 billion to a family who filed a lawsuit against General Motors after six passengers suffered permanent, disfiguring injuries whentheirGM van exploded in an automobile collision. The jury ordered GM to pay $107.6 million in compensatory damages and $4.8 billion in punitive damages.
What was Gloria Aguilar awarded for?
Verdict No. 9 – $27.5 Million Awarded ToBus Accident Victim. A woman named Gloria Aguilar was awarded $27.5 million by a jury in Manhattan after she suffered debilitating bodily injuries in a bus accident. Specifically, Aguilar was hit by a city transit bus and had to have her left leg amputated as a result.
What was the jury verdict in the Florida case?
Reynolds, and many other cigarette manufacturers.The jury determined that cigarette makers committed acts of conspiracy and fraud. This multi-billion dollar award was largely comprised of punitive damages to send a signal that the cigarette companies acted with a reckless and wanton disregard for the safety of consumers.