Pfizer, convicted of illegal drug promotions, to pay Ga. $21M

By Péralte C. Paul

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Drug maker Pfizer Inc. will pay $2.3 billion to the federal government and 49 states -- including $21.7 million to Georgia -- to settle allegations it violated federal regulations in the promotion of several drugs.

Georgia’s portion of the settlement is earmarked for its Medicaid program, a spokesman for the Georgia Attorney General’s office said. The state’s Medicaid program had a budget of $2.1 billion in the last fiscal year.

The Justice Department accused the New York-based company and its subsidiaries of operating marketing campaigns to promote several of its drugs, including Geodon, Lyrica, Zyvox and the now-off-the market Bextra, for uses not approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

The government also accused the firm of giving illegal kickbacks to health care workers via cash, travel and entertainment so they would promote and prescribe those medicines as well as Lipitor, Zyrtec and Viagra.

Federal law prohibits that practice when the drug being prescribed is paid for by federal health care programs.

Under terms of the settlement -- the nation’s largest stemming from health care fraud allegations -- Pfizer will pay $1 billion to the federal government and the states that were part of the original suit. South Carolina did not join the suit.

A Pfizer subsidiary, Pharmacia & Upjohn Co., pleaded guilty to a felony charge of violating the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, pay a criminal fine and give up $1.3 billion.