Editing Pfizer (section)

====2009 Illegal marketing of Bextra settlement====
In September 2009, Pfizer pleaded guilty to the illegal marketing of [[arthritis]] drug [[valdecoxib]] (Bextra) and agreed to a $2.3{{nbsp}}billion settlement, the largest [[health care fraud]] settlement at that time.<ref>{{cite web |title=Justice Department Announces Largest Health Care Fraud Settlement in Its History |url=https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-largest-health-care-fraud-settlement-its-history |publisher=[[United States Department of Justice]] |access-date=2022-05-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220512181155/https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-largest-health-care-fraud-settlement-its-history |archive-date=May 12, 2022 |date=2009-09-09 |quote=American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. and its subsidiary Pharmacia & Upjohn Company Inc. (hereinafter together "Pfizer") have agreed to pay $2.3 billion, the largest health care fraud settlement in the history of the Department of Justice, to resolve criminal and civil liability arising from the illegal promotion of certain pharmaceutical products, the Justice Department announced today.}}</ref> Pfizer promoted the sale of the drug for several uses and dosages that the [[Food and Drug Administration]] specifically declined to approve due to safety concerns. The drug was pulled from the market in 2005.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/business/03health.html |title=Pfizer pays $2.3 billion to settle marketing case |first=Gardiner |last=Harris |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=September 2, 2009 |url-access=limited}}</ref> It was Pfizer's fourth such settlement in a decade.<ref name=Settle/><ref name=Improper>{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=Carrie |date=September 3, 2009 |title=In Settlement, A Warning To Drugmakers: Pfizer to Pay Record Penalty In Improper-Marketing Case |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/02/AR2009090201449_pf.html}}</ref><ref name=fine/> The payment included $1.195{{nbsp}}billion in criminal penalties for felony violations of the [[Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act]], and $1.0{{nbsp}}billion to settle allegations it had illegally promoted the drugs for uses that were not approved by the [[Food and Drug Administration]] (FDA) leading to violations under the [[False Claims Act]] as reimbursements were requested from Federal and State programs. The criminal fine was the largest ever assessed in the United States to date.<ref name=Settle>{{Cite news |last=Harris |first=Gardiner |title=Pfizer Pays $2.3 billion to Settle Marketing Case |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/business/03health.html |date=September 3, 2009}}</ref><ref name=Improper/><ref name=fine>{{Cite news |title=Pfizer agrees record fraud fine |work=[[BBC News]] |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8234533.stm |date=September 2, 2009}}</ref> Pfizer entered a [[corporate integrity agreement]] with the [[Office of Inspector General (United States)|Office of Inspector General]] that required it to make substantial structural reforms within the company, and publish to its website its post approval commitments and a searchable database of all payments to physicians made by the company.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Corporate Integrity Agreement between the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services and Pfizer Inc. |url=https://oig.hhs.gov/fraud/cia/agreements/pfizer_inc.pdf |website=[[Office of Inspector General (United States)|Office of Inspector General]] |date=August 31, 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715112330/http://oig.hhs.gov/fraud/cia/agreements/pfizer_inc.pdf |archive-date=July 15, 2011}}</ref>