Drug maker Pfizer to pay record $2.3 billion penalty over promotions

(NECN: Washington) – Pfizer Inc., the world’s largest drug maker, will pay a record $2.3 billion civil and criminal penalty over unlawful prescription drug promotions. The Justice Department says the settlement includes a $1.2 billion criminal fine, the largest criminal fine in U.S. history. The agreement also includes a criminal forfeiture of $105 million. The overall settlement is the largest ever paid by a drug company for alleged violations of federal drug rules. “Americans have tremendous confidence in the medicines they take…thanks to the attorneys from FDA…we now have a safer drug supply available to the public,” says Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. The government said the company promoted four prescription drugs, including the pain killer Bextra, as treatments for medical conditions different than those the drugs had been approved for by federal regulators. A Pfizer subsidiary, Pharmacia and Upjohn Inc., which was acquired in 2003, has entered an agreement to plead guilty to one count of felony misbranding. *Material from The Associated Press used in this report*