Free Republic

GlaxoSmithKline agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts and to pay $1 billion in criminal fines and forfeitures for the illegal marketing and promotion of the drugs Paxil and Wellbutrin. Officials said the company between 1998 and 2003 unlawfully promoted Paxil for treating depression in patients under the age of 18. The Food and Drug Administration has not approved that use of the drug, DOJ officials said. The officials said GlaxoSmithKline illegally promoted Wellbutrin for uses that included weight loss, substance abuse and sexual dysfunction. DOJ officials said the company will...

WASHINGTON -- GlaxoSmithKline LLC will pay $3 billion and plead guilty to promoting two popular drugs for unapproved uses and to failing to disclose important safety information on a third in the largest health care fraud settlement in U.S. history, the Justice Department said Monday. Accompanying the criminal case was a civil settlement in which the government said the company's improper marketing included providing doctors with expensive resort vacations, European hunting trips, high-paid speaking tours and even tickets to a Madonna concert. The $3 billion combined criminal-civil fine will be the largest penalty ever paid by a drug company, Deputy...

The government is taking steps to curb use of some long-acting asthma drugs used by millions, issuing safety restrictions Thursday to lower a life-threatening risk that asthma could worsen suddenly. The Food and Drug Administration's warnings cover the drugs Advair, Symbicort, Foradil and Serevent. The FDA said they should be used only by asthmatics who can't control their lung disease with other medications _ and even then only for the shortest time possible.