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<\/a>Legal truths stranger than fiction have existed for some time. Cue example from Bloomberg Financial on news yesterday of \u00a0the settlement of \u201cthe largest health-care fraud case\u201d in the history of these United States, against GlaxoSmithKline PLC,<\/p>\n
Under federal law, while doctors are allowed to prescribe medications for unapproved uses, drug companies are barred from promoting such sales.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Not that the statutes in the Code of Federal Regulations stopped their sales force, or anything. So while global drug giant GSK will be paying $3 billion to the U.S. government, and various state governments, in fines and penalties (dare I call these \u201ctaxes?\u201d<\/a>)<\/a> for it\u2019s sins of marketing various drugs for unapproved uses, touting, for example<\/p>\n
Wellbutrin, a depression medication, for unapproved uses including\u00a0weight loss, sexual dysfunction and substance abuse. Some sales representatives referred to the drug as \u201cthe happy, horny, skinny pill,\u201d according to the fact sheet<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
the real interesting thing is that \u201cdoctors are allowed to prescribe medications for unapproved uses\u201d at all. <\/em>Who knew? I mean besides medical doctors, their attorneys, FDA, and the Justice Department?<\/p>\n
Lest you concern yourself that this huge punitive fine will completely bankrupt Glaxo, note that shares in GSK rallied quite nicely yesterday. That\u2019s because the biggest evil in the marketplace is perceived\u00a0uncertainty<\/em>, not highly questionable, commission dollar driven, ethics<\/a>. Also, their latest Annual Report states that,<\/p>\n
In 2011, we paid dividends of\u00a0\u00a33.4 billion and spent \u00a32.2 billion\u00a0on repurchasing shares.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Which is waay more than the $3 billion (at current exchange rates, $8.74 billion) they\u2019re coughing up in criminal fines in the very near future. Not that it doesn\u2019t hurt them. Who knows, it might even make them think twice before putting dollars before the lives of those whom their medicines *cough* benefit.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s just another reason why I don\u2019t freak out over stuff that a) doesn\u2019t make sense, b) that I don\u2019t have any control over, especially when you consider c) many of us have eaten in Mobster owned restaurants in Las Vegas<\/a> (Los Angeles, Chicago, New York City, etc.) without our even knowing it.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why I, along with my good friend Qoheleth, like this song. \u00a0And though I pray the same prayer as Pete Townsend does here, it is one of the least of my prayers, for an obvious reason: we always get fooled again when we put our faith in man.<\/p>\n