Even today, $3 Billion is real money, at least in my view.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) agreed to plead guilty and pay a $3 billion settlement to resolve criminal and civil charges linked to the company’s illegal promotion of prescription drugs and its failure to report safety data, according to a U.S. Justice Department statement today.
The agreement is the largest health-care fraud settlement in the U.S. and the largest payment by a drug company, the department said in the statement.
Bloomberg
More details:
The U.S. Justice Department said GSK agreed to plead guilty to a slew of charges, including misbranding the drugs Paxil and Wellbutrin and failing to report safety data on Avandia to the Food and Drug Administration.
The DOJ said GSK agreed to pay $1 billion as part of the criminal plea agreement, which also includes non-monetary compliance commitments.
snip
At the same time, GSK agreed to pay $2 billion to resolve the company’s civil liabilities with the U.S. government and states under the False Claims Act.
“Today’s multi-billion dollar settlement is unprecedented in both size and scope,” James Cole, the deputy attorney general, said in a statement. “We are determined to stop practices that jeopardize patients’ health, harm taxpayers, and violate the public trust.”
3 billion here, three billion there. It all adds up.