"Pfizer became something of a poster child after it agreed to pay a record $2.3 billion fine to settle allegations
that it illegally promoted a number of its medicines," Todd writes. But she points out that between 1999 and 2004, the company allegedly generated $10 billion alone by selling its seizure drug
Neurontin for unapproved uses. It's hardly unique.
"There are very few companies that haven't had their turn in the wheelhouse to get a spanking," says
pharmaceutical industry analyst Ira Loss. "I tend to think the pressure put on these salesmen to hit targets and goals leads to misbehavior." Adriane Fugh-Berman, an associate professor at
Georgetown University Medical Center, says the practice will continue as long as the profits are greater than the fines.
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Jared A. Favole, meanwhile, reports in the Wall Street Journal on the actual amounts of free drug samples -- an entirely legal practice -- that pharmaceutical companies dispensed in 2007, according to documents submitted to Congress. Pfizer gave out 101 million drug samples worth $2.7 billion; Merck dispensed 39 million samples worth about $356 million; Eli Lilly 33 million worth $67 million; Wyeth (which was acquired by Pfizer last year), 52 million worth $64 million; Abbott Laboratories 16 million worth $32 million, and Baxter International 33,000 worth $7 million.