While I'm on the subject...

[Guest guest]

I recently posted something about Harvard doctors covering up payments

from drug companies. I just discovered this- about a drug company exec

at Bristol Myers Squib being indicted by the FBI! Again, unrelated to

cholesterol but glad this guy got caught.

http://newyork.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel08/nyplavix042308.htm

United States Attorney

Southern District of New York

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 23, 2008

CONTACT:

U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE

YUSILL SCRIBNER,

REBEKAH CARMICHAEL

PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE

(212) 637-2600

FBI

JAMES MARGOLIN

(212) 384-2720

FORMER BRISTOL-MYERS SQUIBB SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT INDICTED FOR LYING

TO THE

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ABOUT POPULAR BLOOD-THINNING DRUG

WASHINGTON-The Department of Justice announced today that the former

senior vice president of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (BMS),

Bodnar, was indicted for his role in lying to the federal government

about a patent deal involving the popular blood-thinning drug, Plavix,

used by heart attack, stroke and other patients. The Department said

that the alleged illegal actions of Bodnar related to the possible

introduction of a generic drug that would compete with Plavix.

On June 11, 2007, BMS agreed to plead guilty and pay a $1 million

criminal fine for misleading the government about the Plavix patent

deal. BMS paid the maximum fine permitted by statute for committing

two violations under the federal False Statements Act.

According to the one-count indictment filed today in the U.S. District

Court in Washington, D.C., in 2006, BMS and another company, Apotex

Inc., were engaged in litigation over the validity of the patent for

Plavix and were negotiating a settlement of that litigation. At the

time, BMS was subject to a separate consent decree, for unrelated

conduct, with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that required BMS to

submit any proposed patent settlements for review and advisory

approval by the FTC. The FTC warned BMS that if BMS agreed with Apotex

not to launch BMS's own generic version of Plavix-meaning that BMS

would not compete against Apotex for generic sales-then the FTC would

not approve a settlement of the Plavix litigation.

In the indictment, the Department alleges that, at a meeting in 2006,

Bodnar, on behalf of BMS, made representations to Apotex to reassure

it that BMS would not launch a generic version of Plavix if Apotex

agreed to a settlement which would prevent Apotex from launching its

Plavix generic until 2011. The Department charges that Bodnar

knowingly and willfully made a false statement to the FTC about the

existence of his representations to Apotex.

" Lying to the federal government is a serious felony that obstructs

the law enforcement process, " said O. Barnett, Assistant

Attorney General in charge of the Department's Antitrust Division.

" The Department of Justice will vigorously prosecute such illegal

activity. "

Plavix, a patented pharmaceutical, is the most widely prescribed

blood-thinning drug in the world. Approximately 48 million Americans

take Plavix daily to prevent potentially fatal blood clots. The drug

was approved for sale in the U.S. in November 1997.

BMS, an international pharmaceutical company headquartered in New

York, N.Y, participates in the sale and marketing of Plavix in the

U.S. through the Bristol-Myers Squibb Sanofi Pharmaceuticals Holding

Partnership, which sold more than $3.5 billion of Plavix in the U.S.

in 2005.

Bodnar is charged with a violation of the Federal False Statements

Act, which carries a maximum sentence of five years of imprisonment

and a fine of $250,000. The fine may be increased to twice the gain

from the offense or twice the loss incurred by the victims of the crime.

This case is part of an ongoing investigation being conducted by the

Antitrust Division's National Criminal Enforcement Section and the New

York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Anyone with

information about this matter should contact the Antitrust Division's

National Criminal Enforcement Section at 202-307-6694.