Pfizer Pays $2.3B, But Will It Change the Pharmaceutical Industry? As Long as Profits Outweigh Penalties, Drugmakers May Continue Practices By RADHA

At $2.3 billion, it's a record-breaking settlement that includes the largest fine ever levied in U.S. history, but drug industry experts say that the hefty sum Pfizer agreed to Wednesday will do little to curb highly profitable, unethical marketing behaviors by some companies. The sum folds in civil and criminal penalties related to illegal prescription drug marketing, bringing the investigation of the pharmaceutical behemoth by the U.S. Department of Justice to a close.

Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli, center, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen...

Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli, center, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, left, and Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division Tony West, take part in a news conference to announce Pfizer will pay a record $2.3 billion civil and criminal penalty over unlawful prescription drug promotions on Wednesday, September 2, 2009 in Washington.

(Evan Vucci/AP Photo)

The settlement includes $1.3 billion in criminal fines related to promoting the arthritis and menstrual pain drug Bextra for uses and in doses not approved by the FDA, putting patients at increased risk for heart attack and stroke. Pfizer voluntarily removed Bextra from the market in 2005.

But promoting off-label drug use to physicians is commonplace. Ethics experts and policy makers say more stringent government oversight is necessary, but that as long as the profits are bigger than the penalties, drug companies are unlikely to revise their marketing model.

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