Here's your scorecard, source of stories about deceit of large pharmaceutical manufacturers

Publisher's Note: While we all read the claims by high-priced executives and others in the pharmaceutical industry about the 'concern' pharma has for the well-being of the public, the real picture is quite different--charges of price fixing, unsafe drugs, fraud, misleading advertising.  

Millions of dollars are being spent to cover up these actions--dollars that are being paid for by seniors and others. It is time to expose these frauds. In this new section, we will print stories of legal settlements against pharma. Click on any of the stories below for complete stories:

(Click here for the running total of fines paid or status of suits against pharma)

Bristol-Myers pays $300m to settle shareholder suit-- Bristol-Myers Squibb has agreed to pay $300 million (R1.87 billion) to settle shareholder lawsuits alleging the pharmaceutical company inflated sales by $2 billion and misled investors about the cancer drug Erbitux. The settlement, if approved by a federal judge, would be the largest by a drug company in a securities fraud case in US history. Prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating whether the company gave incentives to wholesalers to buy more drugs than they could sell from 1999 to 2001...

Schering-Plough settles federal probe of unit for 345 million dollars...

Wyeth has set aside $16.6 billion in charges to cover potential lawsuits, including $3.75 billion in a national settlement reached in 2000...

Bayer ups settlement for Baycol to $1.06 billion, still has thousands of law suits outstanding over drug that killed 100 people...

Lawsuit charges Pfizer misled public about anti-depressant Zoloft...A California woman is suing Pfizer Inc., claiming the drug maker misled physicians and patients about the safety, effectiveness and side effects of the anti-depressant drug Zoloft...
The 19-page complaint, filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, contends that Pfizer buried evidence showing the drug was no more effective than a placebo and its users tended to develop an array of side effects, including withdrawal symptoms, dependency, convulsions and psychosis.

GSK pays pounds 50m to settle patent suits...THE INDEPENDENT via NewsEdge Corporation : GLAXOSMITHKLINE, the drugs maker, agreed to pay $92m (pounds 50m) to settle lawsuits accusing it of misusing patents to thwart generic competition to the antibiotic Augmentin. Glaxo has filed court papers in Norfolk, Virginia, seeking preliminary approval to pay $62.5m to end a lawsuit by wholesalers and other direct purchasers of the drug. The rest of the money will go to indirect purchasers, such as insurers and consumers. Glaxo said it will take a charge of pounds 170m in the second quarter to settle these and other lawsuits.

Pfizer to Pay $420 Million in Illegal Marketing Case...May 14, 2004--Pfizer Inc., the world's biggest drug company, has agreed to settle criminal and civil charges and pay fines of more than $430 million, the Justice Department and federal prosecutors in Massachusetts said today. ..