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Posted on Friday 18 October 2013

A couple of days ago, I posted this timeline of the SKB/GSK’s studies of Paxil in adolescents [paxil in adolescents: “five easy pieces”…]:
I wanted to put some index of their profits from the drug during the period between publishing Paxil Study 329 and the time the patent expired. I failed at that. I couldn’t even document the overall Paxil profitability. Subsequently, I found this:
Glaxo Agrees to Pay $3 Billion in Fraud Settlement
New York Times
By KATIE THOMAS and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT
July 2, 2012

The three criminal charges involved Paxil, Wellbutrin and Avandia and included a criminal fine of $1 billion. The remaining $2 billion involves fines in connection with a civil settlement over the sales and marketing practices of the blockbuster asthma drug Advair and several other drugs.

Part of the civil settlement also includes claims that the company overcharged the government for drugs. Glaxo did not admit any wrongdoing in the civil settlement. Despite the large amount, $3 billion represents only a portion of what Glaxo made on the drugs. Avandia, for example, racked up $10.4 billion in sales, Paxil brought in $11.6 billion, and Wellbutrin sales were $5.9 billion during the years covered by the settlement, according to IMS Health, a data group that consults for drugmakers.

“So a $3 billion settlement for half a dozen drugs over 10 years can be rationalized as the cost of doing business,” Mr. Burns said…

Obviously these numbers aren’t exactly what I was looking for. They don’t tell us the profits from the off-label sales for adolescents. But I agree they are enough to support Patrick Burns conclusion that “a $3 billion settlement for half a dozen drugs over 10 years can be rationalized as the cost of doing business” [Burns was the spokesman for the whistle-blower advocacy group Taxpayers Against Fraud]. If profit is the index of success, it was worth it…
  1.  
    Nick Stuart
    October 18, 2013 | 11:54 AM
     

    Criminals. The lot of them. They should be in jail along with all those pot smokers.

  2.  
    Nick Stuart
    October 18, 2013 | 11:55 AM
     

    Off topic… this made me laugh. http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/dsm-5-0/dsm-5-what-it-will-mean-your-practice?GUID=4FCB4641-7FC8-4BA6-B25E-F52C8AD7E802&rememberme=1&ts=18102013

    Hope you are having fun on the RV. Even if I don’t know what it means….

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