News
09.30.10
The Swiss drug giant Novartis has agreed to pay $422.5 million to settle criminal and civil investigations into the marketing of the antiseizure medicine Trileptal and five other drugs, officials said on Thursday.
The action, including a guilty plea to a misdemeanor and a $185 million criminal fine and forfeiture by Novartis Pharmaceuticals, its United States subsidiary, was announced by the United States attorney in Philadelphia, which has specialized in health care fraud. This is the latest in a series of crackdowns by federal prosecutors and states that have been investigating pharmaceutical companies for illegally promoting drugs for uses not authorized by the Food and Drug Administration.