Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past few years, your distrust in pharmaceutical companies has grown exponentially. Distrust is at an all-time high, and understandably so. The pharmaceutical industry often acs unethically. This is not an option, but actual fact. Just look at all the times big pharma companies have been fined for violating the law when it comes to selling and marketing their drugs. Nearly all drug companies value profits over the safety and well-being of people. Especially public ones. No matter what they tell you, maximizing profits and satisfying their shareholders are the most important things to the major pharmaceutical companies.
Some of the “shady” pharmaceutical companies practices include:
- Off-label promotion of drugs
- Failure to disclose safety data
- Paying kickbacks to physicians
- Making false and misleading statements
- Reporting false best practices
- Medicare fraud
- Poor manufacturing practices
One of the main ways that pharmaceutical companies prioritize profits over safety is by engaging in illegal marketing practices:
This can include promoting drugs for uses that have not been approved by the FDA, downplaying the risks of a drug, and bribing doctors to prescribe their products. These tactics are not only unethical, but they also lead to people being prescribed medications that may not be safe or effective for their specific condition.
False Claims Act (FCA)
The False Claims Act (FCA) is a federal law that imposes liability on individuals and companies that defraud the government. The FCA allows the government to recover damages and penalties from those who have submitted false or fraudulent claims for payment. The Act also includes a qui tam provision, which allows private citizens to bring a lawsuit on behalf of the government and share in any recovery. The largest pharmaceutical fines in the world are based on violating the False Claims Act. Here are a few examples:
- GlaxoSmithKline – $3 billion (2012): GlaxoSmithKline received a monstrous fine for violating the FCA when it was using illegal marketing practices related to several of its drugs, including the antidepressants Paxil, Wellbutrin, Avandia, Advair, Lamactil, Zofran, Imitrex, Lotronex, Flovent and Valtrex.
- Pfizer – $2.3 billion (2009): Have you ever heard of Prizer? Hahaha. You know them as the maker of the highest selling Covid-19 vaccine, but did you know Pfizer was fined for illegal marketing practices related to several of its drugs? The products included the pain medication Bextra, Geodon, Zyvox and Lyrica. They violated the FCA by doing off label promotions and for kickbacks.
- Johnson & Johnson – $2.2 billion (2013): Johnson & Johnson was fined for off-label marketing of the antipsychotic drug Risperdal, as well as Invega and Natrecor. The govornment alleged that J&J tried to market for uses that had not been approved as safe and effective. They also paid kickbacks to doctors and to Omnicare, Inc.
- Abbott Laboratories – $1.5 billion (2012): Abbott Laboratories was fined for off-label marketing of the anti-seizure drug Depakote. The company admitted to having trained a sales team that targeted nursing homes, marketing the drug for the control of aggression and agitation in elderly dementia patients. The drug never had approval to be marketed like that.
- Eli Lilly – $1.42 billion (2009): Eli Lilly was fined for illegal marketing of the antipsychotic drug Zyprexa. The government alleged they targeted primary care physicians to promote the drug off label. Specifically they said that Eli Lilly “trained its sales force to disregard the law”. Shocked? Didn’t think so.
- Merck – $950 million (2011): Merck was fined for illegal marketing of the pain medication Vioxx, which was linked to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. This painkiller was eventually taken off the market in 2004 after it was found to increase the risk of heart attacks.
- Amgen – $762 million (2012): Amgen paid over three-quarters of a billion dollars back in 2012 to resolve criminal and civil charges that they promoted multiple drugs to treat sleep apnea. The dug Aranesp was used at doses higher than approved by the FDA.
- Bristol-Myers Squibb – $515 million (2007): Bristol-Myers Squibb was fined for illegal marketing of the anti-psychotic drug Abilify, and Serzone. Their violations include off-label promotion, kickbacks and Medicare fraud, as well as paying out kickbacks.
- AstraZeneca – $520 million (2010): AstraZeneca was fined for illegal marketing of the antipsychotic drug Seroquel. They also paid out kickbacks.
- Purdue Pharma – $601 million (2007): Purdue Pharma also violated the FCA and was fined for illegal marketing of the pain medication OxyContin.
Enough examples for you there? There’s always more!
Pharma Company Drug Price Hikes
Another way that pharmaceutical companies put profits first is by hiking up the prices of their drugs. Here we are in a recession (and about to go into a much more severe one in 2023) and with the cost of everything so high these days, many American’s cannot afford the sky-high costs of prescription medications. Add pharmaceutical company price hikes to the mix and you are left with many people who cannot afford their meds. Did you know that drugmakers plan on raising prices on at least 350 drugs this month? Again, profits over people! The pharmaceutical companies are more concerned with maximizing their profits than making sure people have access to the medications they need.
The hospitals don’t help either. Did you know that many hospitals mark up their meds by up to 700%? That makes for a separate blog topic, so more on that another time.
Pharmaceutical Companies Hide Drug and Vaccine Side Effects
But it’s not just the illegal marketing practices and exorbitant drug prices that show how little big pharma. There have been numerous cases of pharmaceutical companies hiding or downplaying the side effects of their products, as shown in the list above. Even when those side effects can be serious or life-threatening, they don’t tell the general public (or even the doctors they are pushing the products to) the entire truth. In fact, in most cases the pharmaceutical sales reps do not even know because the company does not tell them. This lack of transparency puts people’s health at risk and shows a blatant disregard for the safety of the people taking their drugs.
The bottom line is that the pharmaceutical industry is driven by greed and will do whatever it takes to make a profit. Just remember, they don’t care about you more than the money you pay them.
