Amgen Agrees to Pay $762 Million in Drug Marketing Case !

In recent years, drug companies have paid out billions in fines to settle various federal, state and civil lawsuits.

Among the charges is promoting drugs illegally for off label use, which is common, even when it puts patients lives at risk.

It's been said that imposing fines – even those that approach $1 billion or more – is simply not enough to deter this type of criminal behavior, as the drug company executives sitting at the helm are not held personally accountable (or subject to personal prosecution) and jail time.

This appears to be precisely the case, as time and time again drug companies are allowed to promote drugs for uses that could actually harm patients, or engage in other illegal, criminal activities, and they receive what amounts to a slap on the wrist as punishment.

Two drug giants, Amgen and Sanofi, are the latest to add hundreds of millions in settlement monies to the growing stash …

According to one U.S. attorney, Amgen was "pursuing profits at the risk of patient safety"¹ by selling and promoting the drug for unapproved uses. Prosecutors alleged that Amgen had promoted the anemia drug Aranesp to treat cancer patients not undergoing chemotherapy (the drug is only approved for those receiving chemotherapy). A later Amgen study actually showed that giving cancer patients who were not receiving chemo Aranesp increased their risk of death.

The company also was federally charged with promoting larger, but less frequent, injections of Aranesp as a way to edge out competing drugs – even though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had turned down Amgen's requests for this approval, citing inadequate safety studies. In fact, one study actually found giving the drug at higher doses may increase cardiovascular risks …

Other fines and other large settlements.

More here.