Pfizer Admits Illegal Marketing of Bextra, Will Pay $2.3 Billion Fine

The world’s largest drug company, Pfizer Inc., has pleaded guilty to criminal charges it broke the law in marketing its controversial pain drug Bextra and agreed to pay a record-setting $2.3 billion fine to settle allegations it also improperly promoted 13 other medications.

Bexta was pulled from the United States market in 2005 after it was linked to scores of reports of patient injuries. Pfizer is now paying big time to settle allegations that it illegally marketed Bextra and other drugs, including the antibiotic Zyvox, the psychiatric drug Geodon, and Lyrica, which is used to treat epilepsy.  

The company will pay about $1.3 billion to settle the charge regarding marketing of Bextra and another $1 billion to end civil allegations about shady marketing of the other drugs, according to a report today in the Wall Street Journal.

News of the record settlement was leaked in January as Pfizer prepared to buy rival drug maker Wyeth and listed the $2.3 billion charge on court filings for the merger. However, more details of the terms of the plea deal were made public today.

The $2.3 billion to be paid by Pfizer is the largest ever for improper marketing of prescription drugs and is far more than the $1.42 billion Eli Lilly and Co agreed to pay earlier this year for off-label sales of its schizophrenia drug, Zyprexa.

Pfizer Deemed Repeat Offender

The financial penalty was particularly stiff because Pfizer is considered a repeat offender, having been in hot water before for pitching drugs to doctors and patients for treating conditions not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The company pleaded guilty in 2004 to other criminal charges relating to illegal sales and marketing tactics for its drugs.

“The size and seriousness of this resolution, including the huge criminal fine of $1.3 billion, reflect the seriousness and scope of Pfizer’s crimes,” said Mike Loucks, acting U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts.

According to the latest criminal case against Pfizer, the company’s marketing team promoted Bextra for acute pain, surgical pain, and other unapproved uses. Meanwhile, Pfizer sales associates promoted the drug directly to doctors for those unapproved uses and dosages.

Pfizer and Pharmacia Corp., the drug company that developed Bextra before it was acquired by Pfizer, also showered doctors with expensive trips and other perks to encourage them to promote Bextra’s use for unapproved conditions to their colleagues, officials said.

While the company agreed to pay the fine to settle the civil allegations of illegal marketing, Pfizer denied all of the civil allegations, except for admitting that it improperly promoted Zyvox.

Pfizer attorney Amy Schulman said, “We regret certain actions taken in the past, but are proud of the action we’ve taken to strengthen our internal controls.”

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