--- description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. title: Top 10 Drug Company Settlements image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Health](/section/health/) # Top 10 Drug Company Settlements by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) Sep 17, 2012 8:20 PM CUT by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) Sep 17, 2012 8:20 PM CUT ## Pharma Behaving Badly 
Record-breaking multibillion-dollar settlements against big drug companies have become routine in the U.S. In recent years, pharmaceutical companies seem to have been playing a game of one-upmanship, each surpassing yet a new milestone of wrongdoing — fraudulently marketing their drugs or making misleading claims about their safety — and the threat of massive payouts appears to have offered little deterrent.



(MORE: Breaking Down GlaxoSmithKline's Billion-Dollar Wrongdoing)



Even the largest of settlements rarely dent the profits associated with the drugs involved: for example, the largest fine ever imposed on a drug company — July’s $3 billion judgment against GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in part for illegally marketing the antidepressants Paxil and Wellbutrin and withholding data on the health risks of the diabetes medication Avandia — accounted for just 11% of associated revenue. Many other cases resulted in relatively smaller losses even when the fines were imposed as criminal penalties, as in the GSK case, and not just for civil law violations. Contrast such outcomes with those in most individual cases of fraud, in which all profits are typically confiscated as ill-gotten gains and the fraudster goes to prison.



A recent editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine calls for change: levy large enough fines against drug companies for illegal behavior, so that the payouts can't be dismissed as merely “the cost of doing business”; offer more protections for whistleblowers; and perhaps most importantly, file criminal charges against drug company executives for misconduct that could put them in prison.



(MORE: A Brief History of Antidepressants)



While the pharmaceutical industry is essential to medicine and has produced crucial drugs that have saved countless lives, eight of the 10 biggest international drug companies have recently agreed to pay millions to billions of dollars to settle charges of wrongdoing, and are currently operating under so-called corporate integrity agreements — essentially, promises not to commit the same crimes again. Some have already violated earlier agreements multiple times, however, to the tune of hundreds of millions dollars.



Following are the 10 biggest pharma settlements since 2007, with details on companies' illegal acts and the drugs involved, based on both the New England Journal editorial and other sources. maiasz ## Bristol Myers Squibb 
Settlement amount: $515 million

Year of settlement: 2007

Drugs involved: The atypical antipsychotic Abilify (aripiprazole); the antidepressant Serzone (nefazadone); several anticancer drugs

Criminal charges filed? No



Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) heavily marketed its antipsychotic Abilify to treat symptoms of dementia in the elderly and to treat aggression and other behavioral problems in children, conditions the drug is not approved to treat. Also, despite a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) black box warning cautioning against potentially fatal side effects of Abilify in the elderly, BMS sent a special task force of sales teams to nursing homes to promote the drugs, according to the Department of Justice. The government further accused BMS of paying medical professionals and pharmacists to dispense its products, offering them kickbacks and expensive vacations to luxury resorts. maiasz ## AstraZeneca 
Settlement amount: $520 million

Year of settlement: 2010

Drugs involved: The atypical antipsychotic Seroquel (quetiapine)

Criminal charges filed? No



The charges against AstraZeneca involve illegally marketing Seroquel to the elderly and to children to treat conditions for which it has not been found safe or effective, including insomnia and anxiety. Studies have found that using Seroquel improperly in the elderly, and potentially in children, may raise the risk of death.



AstraZeneca executives also promoted a study linking Seroquel with weight loss, according to emails produced in a civil case against the company, while they buried other data, particularly from one study that showed that taking Seroquel caused significant weight gain — an average 11 lbs. a year. Other studies have repeatedly shown that Seroquel and other drugs in its class cause weight gain and associated diabetes and metabolic problems. maiasz ## Purdue Pharma 
Settlement amount: $634 million

Year of settlement: 2007

Drugs involved: The painkiller Oxycontin (time-released oxycodone)

Criminal charges filed? Yes



When Oxycontin was approved as a new opioid painkiller in 1995 and promoted with the biggest sales campaign ever for such a drug, its maker, Purdue Pharma, made exaggerated claims that it was less addictive and less likely to cause withdrawal symptoms than other opioid medications like morphine. We all know what happened next.



Although long-acting drugs like Oxycontin are generally less addictive than shorter-lasting ones like heroin, drug users rapidly figured out how to defeat Oxycontin's anti-addiction time-release mechanism — and the media helped spread the news. Once that happened, Purdue Pharma's claims about reduced addiction risk were moot, yet the company persisted with them. Purdue was charged with using misleading sales tactics, minimizing the risks of the drug and promoting it to treat types of pain for which it had not been appropriately studied. maiasz ## Amgen 
Settlement amount: $760 million

Year of settlement: pending

Drugs involved: The anemia drugs Aranesp (darbepoetin alfa) and Epogen (epoetin alfa)

Criminal charges filed? Not yet determined



Amgen is accused in a whistle-blower lawsuit with overfilling vials of Aranesp so that doctors could give the "free" drugs to patients and then bill insurance companies for it. The company is also accused of using the promise of extra profits to bribe doctors to write prescriptions for Aranesp instead of competing drugs. In addition, federal investigations into the company's misconduct involve the marketing, pricing and dosing of its anemia drugs, along with the promotion of clinical trial data on their safety and effectiveness. Amgen has said that it has set aside the money to settle the various investigations and lawsuits. maiasz ## Merck 
Settlement amount: $950 million

Year of settlement: 2011

Drug involved: The painkiller Vioxx (rofecoxib)

Criminal charges filed? Yes



Merck’s Vioxx was pulled from the market in 2004 when studies showing that it doubled the risk of heart attack and stroke were made public. Last year, the company settled charges involving false claims about the drug's safety and the illegal marketing of Vioxx for conditions for which it had not been properly tested, such as rheumatoid arthritis. The drug is estimated to have contributed to between 88,000 and 140,000 heart attacks, about half of them fatal. The $950 settlement does not include the hundreds of millions the company paid out to harmed patients and their families. maiasz ## Eli Lilly 
Settlement amount: $1.4 billion

Year of settlement: 2009

Drugs involved: The atypical antipsychotic Zyprexa (olanzapine) and others

Criminal charges filed? Yes



Like several other manufacturers of second-generation antipsychotics, Eli Lilly marketed its drug for conditions and patients — including the elderly and young children — for which it had not been proven safe or effective. The company also did not appropriately divulge information on side effects, such as significant weight gain that can lead to chronic disease.



Moreover, Zyprexa’s side effect of profound sedation was reframed and promoted for use in the elderly as a sleeping aid. The company advised doctors to administer “5 at 5," or 5 mg of the drug at 5 p.m., to put nursing home patients to sleep. Unlike cheap, generic sleeping pills, however, Zyprexa carries a risk of death, even at doses within the normal range. maiasz ## Abbott 
Settlement amount: $1.5 billion

Year of settlement: 2012

Drugs involved: The mood stabilizer and antiepileptic Depakote (valproic acid)

Criminal charges filed? Yes



Abbott illegally marketed Depakote as a treatment for aggression and agitation in dementia patients, despite the fact that it wasn’t approved for those uses and has been found to cause severe side effects like anorexia in the elderly. It also marketed the drug as an add-on treatment for schizophrenia, even though the company's own research showed it provided no additional benefit for the condition and it was not approved for that use. maiasz ## Johnson & Johnson 
Settlement amount: $2.3 billion

Year of settlement: 2009

Drugs involved: The atypical antipsychotic Geodon (ziprasidone); the painkillers Bextra (valdecoxib) and Lyrica (pregabalin); and others

Criminal charges filed? Yes



Pfizer engaged in the typical antipsychotic shenanigans — marketing Geodon to doctors for uses for which it was not approved — even though the company was already operating under a corporate integrity agreement. The 2009 settlement, which also included the illegal marketing of Bextra and Lyica, as well as giving kickbacks to doctors and other prescribers for using Pfizer drugs, was the company's fourth multimillion-dollar settlement in less than a decade. maiasz ## GlaxoSmithKline 
Settlement amount: $3 billion

Year of settlement: 2012

Drugs involved: The antidepressants Paxil (paroxetine) and Wellbutrin (bupriopion); the antiepileptic Lamictal (lamotrigine); and others

Criminal charges filed? Yes



GlaxoSmithKline’s mismarketing crimes included promotion of its drugs for unapproved uses, hiding data about the medications' risks, and making big payments or offering lavish gifts, such as all-expenses-paid vacations, to doctors for dispensing its products. One of the doctors involved was TV’s Dr. Drew, who allegedly received $275,000 indirectly from GSK to promote Wellbutrin as a remedy for sexual dysfunction in depression, despite a lack of data on its use for this purpose. He did not disclose his payment from the company when he discussed the drug on the air. maiasz Top 10 Drug Company Settlements ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7137603/pharma-behaving-badly-top-10-drug-company-settlements/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7137603/pharma-behaving-badly-top-10-drug-company-settlements/"},"headline":"Top 10 Drug Company Settlements","datePublished":"2012-09-17T20:20:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-16T10:16:51.246Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/archive/7137603/pharma-behaving-badly-top-10-drug-company-settlements/","keywords":["GlaxoSmithKline","Pfizer"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/7137603/pharma-behaving-badly-top-10-drug-company-settlements/","name":"Top 10 Drug Company Settlements"}}]}] ```