Drug manufacturers have paid $6.6 billion so far this year – double from 2011 – to settle claims that they defrauded U.S. health programs, such as overbilling Medicare and pressuring physicians to prescribe medication in unapproved situations, according to the advocacy group Public Citizen. GlaxoSmithKline alone accounted for a record $3 billion settlement over complaints it marketed the antidepressants Paxil and Wellbutrin for uses unapproved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and failed to report clinical data on Avandia, a diabetes drug.
In recent years, there has been such a push from the federal government to settle health-fraud cases that investors are now building budgets to accommodate anticipated fines, Public Citizen said.
