Pfizer to pay $430 million for false drug marketing Warner-Lambert division touted epilepsy drug for pain, migraines.

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Pfizer to pay $430 million for false drug marketing

Warner-Lambert division touted epilepsy drug for pain, migraines.

Reuters

WASHINGTON - Pfizer Inc. agreed to pay $430 million and plead guilty to

criminal charges for illegally marketing an epilepsy drug for unapproved

uses such as migraines and pain, U.S. prosecutors said Thursday.

The company's Warner- Lambert division promoted the drug, Neurontin, for

uses it had no scientific evidence to support, even in cases where the drug

was shown to be ineffective, prosecutors said.

For example, the company promoted Neurontin for treating bipolar disease,

though a study showed a placebo worked as well or better than the drug for

manic depression.

" Warner-Lambert's promotional efforts were a highly organized and deliberate

attempt to circumvent federal restrictions on marketing, " Associate Attorney

General McCallum told a news conference in Washington.

The $240 million criminal portion of Pfizer's payment is the second-largest

criminal fine for a health-care fraud case, McCallum said. TAP

Pharmaceuticals, a venture of Abbott Laboratories Inc. and Takeda Chemical

Industries Ltd., agreed in 2001 to pay a $290 million criminal fine over

charges it illegally marketed a prostate cancer drug.

The Department of Justice and attorneys general of all 50 states agreed to

the Neurontin settlement with Pfizer. California's share of the settlement

proceeds will be about $14.9 million.

The case originated from a lawsuit filed in late 1996 by whistle-blower

lin, who had worked for Warner-Lambert before it was acquired by

Pfizer in 2000.

lin said the company used a variety of schemes to illegally pump up

sales of Neurontin - a drug that remains one of Pfizer's biggest sellers

with 2003 sales of $2.7 billion.

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