Nevada to get $2.5 million in settlement with drug company

By Cy Ryan (contact)

Published Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2009 | 3:53 p.m.

Updated Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2009 | 4:29 p.m.

CARSON CITY – Nevada will receive $2.5 million of a $2.3 billion settlement with Pfizer Inc., accused of illegal kickbacks and improper marketing of its drugs, state Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto says.

She said Pfizer agreed to pay the federal government and the states $1 billion in civil damages and penalties to compensate Medicaid, Medicare, and other federal health care programs for harm suffered.

A subsidiary of Pfizer, Pharmacia & Upjohn Co., has agreed to plead guilty to a felony violation of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and pay a fine of $1.3 million. Pharmacia was accused of misbranding the drug Bextra an anti-inflammatory drug that was pulled off the market in 2005.

Pfizer was accused of paying off doctors and others in cash, entertainment, travel and meals to promote and prescribe a number of drugs such as Celebrex, Viagra and Zyrtec.

The company was accused of unfair and deceptive practices in its marketing of Geodon that was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treatment of mental disorders in adults.

Masto says Pfizer promoted the drug for a number of other uses including pediatric care and for use of higher than the federal approved dosages.

The company was accused of marketing Bextra for conditions and dosages other than those for which it was approved.

It sold the pain medication Lyrica for unapproved condition and it made false representations about the safety of Zyvox, an antibiotic only approved to treat certain drug resistant infections.

Masto said this is the largest settlement in history in a health care fraud case.