Drug giant GlaxoSmithKline is pleading guilty to criminal felony charges in an American investigation into its manufacturing practices at a Puerto Rico plant, and will pay $750 million in fines as a result.
Glaxo admitted to releasing faulty drugs into interstate commerce. Some of the manufactured drug tablets had the potential to split apart and some had incorrect amounts of the active ingredient, posing significant risks to consumers. Faulty drugs included anti-nausea drug Kytril, anti-bacterial drug Bactroban, and diabetes drug Avandamet.
The probe was sparked by a suit filed by a former whistleblowing employee who is now entitled to $96 million from the settlement under the False Claims Act, which allows whistleblowers to collect percentages of settlements in cases that involve fraud on the government. –Wall Street Journal
Government fraud is involved because the drugs Glaxo manufactured are unsafe for public consumption and/or ineffective, and therefore cannot be paid for by U.S. government programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
Issues like these are part of the real reason American health care ends up being so expensive. How many other drug companies are committing fraud against the American taxpayers, forcing us to pay for faulty or dangerous drugs to line their CEO’s pockets?
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