THE FREE MARKET & BIG PHARMA

Big Pharma has a mixed record of showing concern for patients and has even paid generic drug makers NOT to produce off patent medicines. This last ploy has now been upheld by the Supreme Court.  In a NYT article, we get a nice little summary of the less than Hippocratic behavior of these firms:

The industry has also been unsettled by the scores of fraud, bribery and kickback cases involving conduct that federal investigators contend have added billions to the nation’s drug bill. The penalties have been stiff, and the settlements steep.

In 2009, Pfizer paid the largest criminal fine in the nation’s history as part of a $2.3 billion settlement over marketing drugs for unapproved uses. Some analysts say larger fraud and foreign bribery cases will come.

But the change in corporate culture could cost them: internal documents show some of the companies have profited spectacularly from seeking federal approval of a new drug for a limited use, then marketing it far more widely off label.

They include growing restrictions on gifts, fees and trips to influence doctors to use their products; curbs on the ghost writing of medical journal articles and a push for more disclosure of negative study results.