$1,000 a Pop: How Forest Labs Bribed Doctors to Prescribe Antidepressants to Kids

[Guest guest]

$1,000 a Pop: How Forest Labs Bribed Doctors to Prescribe

Antidepressants to Kids

By

Jim | September 15, 2010

Forest Labs (FRX) appears to have initially

underestimated how much it needed to pay the feds to go away: In

2009, the company said it had set aside $170

million in case it needed to settle a Department of Justice

investigation of the kickbacks it paid in its marketing of

Celexa and Lexapro, two

antidepressants. Today, the company paid

$313 million to wrap up the probes.

Forest’s management is used to lavish spending, however, as the

whistleblower complaints behind the settlement allege.

The meat of Forest’s wrongdoing is that the company promoted

Celexa for children even though the FDA had specifically

rejected the drug for kids, and even though European data

showed it was not useful in youths. The company did something

similar with Lexapro — one pharmaceutical sales rep recommended

crushing

up Lexapro into apple sauce in order to make it more

palatable to children.

Forest overcame resistance to the pediatric use of its

antidepressants by bribing doctors with cash and gifts, the

lawsuits alleged. Among the goodies Forest handed out were:

Tickets to St. Louis Cardinals games.

A $1,000 certificate to Alain Ducasse, one of the best (and

most expensive) restaurants in New York, according to this

suit.

A trip to see a Carlin concert. (They’re

antidepressants and he’s funny, geddit?).

$1,000 in cash to attend dinner at the Doral Park Country

Club in Miami.

A trip to the Great Escape amusement park in New York.

Tickets to The Nutcracker at the Paper Mill Playhouse in

Millburn, N.J., according to this

suit.

The settlement,

in which Forest pleads guilty to the accusations against it,

also implies that one

unnamed Forest executive lied to Congress in September

2004 — which is in itself a crime.

This is about the quality of Forest management’s

decision-making. Given that Forest’s marketing plan required

making false statements to a Congressional inquiry, it is

perhaps not surprising that it also underestimated the size of

its legal liabilities.

Related:

Forest

Labs Q1: $170 Million Fee for DOJ; Its Numbers Are Written

in “Invisible Ink”

Forest’s

Lexapro Ghostwriting Budget Was $100K; Emory on the Payroll

Forest

Labs’ Lexapro Flap Over JAMA Article Will Likely Be Examined

by the Feds

Suit

vs. Forest Labs Names Execs Linked to Alleged Lies About

Lexapro, Celexa

[Guest guest]

$1,000 a Pop: How Forest Labs Bribed Doctors to Prescribe

Antidepressants to Kids

By

Jim | September 15, 2010

Forest Labs (FRX) appears to have initially

underestimated how much it needed to pay the feds to go away: In

2009, the company said it had set aside $170

million in case it needed to settle a Department of Justice

investigation of the kickbacks it paid in its marketing of

Celexa and Lexapro, two

antidepressants. Today, the company paid

$313 million to wrap up the probes.

Forest’s management is used to lavish spending, however, as the

whistleblower complaints behind the settlement allege.

The meat of Forest’s wrongdoing is that the company promoted

Celexa for children even though the FDA had specifically

rejected the drug for kids, and even though European data

showed it was not useful in youths. The company did something

similar with Lexapro — one pharmaceutical sales rep recommended

crushing

up Lexapro into apple sauce in order to make it more

palatable to children.

Forest overcame resistance to the pediatric use of its

antidepressants by bribing doctors with cash and gifts, the

lawsuits alleged. Among the goodies Forest handed out were:

Tickets to St. Louis Cardinals games.

A $1,000 certificate to Alain Ducasse, one of the best (and

most expensive) restaurants in New York, according to this

suit.

A trip to see a Carlin concert. (They’re

antidepressants and he’s funny, geddit?).

$1,000 in cash to attend dinner at the Doral Park Country

Club in Miami.

A trip to the Great Escape amusement park in New York.

Tickets to The Nutcracker at the Paper Mill Playhouse in

Millburn, N.J., according to this

suit.

The settlement,

in which Forest pleads guilty to the accusations against it,

also implies that one

unnamed Forest executive lied to Congress in September

2004 — which is in itself a crime.

This is about the quality of Forest management’s

decision-making. Given that Forest’s marketing plan required

making false statements to a Congressional inquiry, it is

perhaps not surprising that it also underestimated the size of

its legal liabilities.

Related:

Forest

Labs Q1: $170 Million Fee for DOJ; Its Numbers Are Written

in “Invisible Ink”

Forest’s

Lexapro Ghostwriting Budget Was $100K; Emory on the Payroll

Forest

Labs’ Lexapro Flap Over JAMA Article Will Likely Be Examined

by the Feds

Suit

vs. Forest Labs Names Execs Linked to Alleged Lies About

Lexapro, Celexa

[Guest guest]

$1,000 a Pop: How Forest Labs Bribed Doctors to Prescribe

Antidepressants to Kids

By

Jim | September 15, 2010

Forest Labs (FRX) appears to have initially

underestimated how much it needed to pay the feds to go away: In

2009, the company said it had set aside $170

million in case it needed to settle a Department of Justice

investigation of the kickbacks it paid in its marketing of

Celexa and Lexapro, two

antidepressants. Today, the company paid

$313 million to wrap up the probes.

Forest’s management is used to lavish spending, however, as the

whistleblower complaints behind the settlement allege.

The meat of Forest’s wrongdoing is that the company promoted

Celexa for children even though the FDA had specifically

rejected the drug for kids, and even though European data

showed it was not useful in youths. The company did something

similar with Lexapro — one pharmaceutical sales rep recommended

crushing

up Lexapro into apple sauce in order to make it more

palatable to children.

Forest overcame resistance to the pediatric use of its

antidepressants by bribing doctors with cash and gifts, the

lawsuits alleged. Among the goodies Forest handed out were:

Tickets to St. Louis Cardinals games.

A $1,000 certificate to Alain Ducasse, one of the best (and

most expensive) restaurants in New York, according to this

suit.

A trip to see a Carlin concert. (They’re

antidepressants and he’s funny, geddit?).

$1,000 in cash to attend dinner at the Doral Park Country

Club in Miami.

A trip to the Great Escape amusement park in New York.

Tickets to The Nutcracker at the Paper Mill Playhouse in

Millburn, N.J., according to this

suit.

The settlement,

in which Forest pleads guilty to the accusations against it,

also implies that one

unnamed Forest executive lied to Congress in September

2004 — which is in itself a crime.

This is about the quality of Forest management’s

decision-making. Given that Forest’s marketing plan required

making false statements to a Congressional inquiry, it is

perhaps not surprising that it also underestimated the size of

its legal liabilities.

Related:

Forest

Labs Q1: $170 Million Fee for DOJ; Its Numbers Are Written

in “Invisible Ink”

Forest’s

Lexapro Ghostwriting Budget Was $100K; Emory on the Payroll

Forest

Labs’ Lexapro Flap Over JAMA Article Will Likely Be Examined

by the Feds

Suit

vs. Forest Labs Names Execs Linked to Alleged Lies About

Lexapro, Celexa

[Guest guest]

$1,000 a Pop: How Forest Labs Bribed Doctors to Prescribe

Antidepressants to Kids

By

Jim | September 15, 2010

Forest Labs (FRX) appears to have initially

underestimated how much it needed to pay the feds to go away: In

2009, the company said it had set aside $170

million in case it needed to settle a Department of Justice

investigation of the kickbacks it paid in its marketing of

Celexa and Lexapro, two

antidepressants. Today, the company paid

$313 million to wrap up the probes.

Forest’s management is used to lavish spending, however, as the

whistleblower complaints behind the settlement allege.

The meat of Forest’s wrongdoing is that the company promoted

Celexa for children even though the FDA had specifically

rejected the drug for kids, and even though European data

showed it was not useful in youths. The company did something

similar with Lexapro — one pharmaceutical sales rep recommended

crushing

up Lexapro into apple sauce in order to make it more

palatable to children.

Forest overcame resistance to the pediatric use of its

antidepressants by bribing doctors with cash and gifts, the

lawsuits alleged. Among the goodies Forest handed out were:

Tickets to St. Louis Cardinals games.

A $1,000 certificate to Alain Ducasse, one of the best (and

most expensive) restaurants in New York, according to this

suit.

A trip to see a Carlin concert. (They’re

antidepressants and he’s funny, geddit?).

$1,000 in cash to attend dinner at the Doral Park Country

Club in Miami.

A trip to the Great Escape amusement park in New York.

Tickets to The Nutcracker at the Paper Mill Playhouse in

Millburn, N.J., according to this

suit.

The settlement,

in which Forest pleads guilty to the accusations against it,

also implies that one

unnamed Forest executive lied to Congress in September

2004 — which is in itself a crime.

This is about the quality of Forest management’s

decision-making. Given that Forest’s marketing plan required

making false statements to a Congressional inquiry, it is

perhaps not surprising that it also underestimated the size of

its legal liabilities.

Related:

Forest

Labs Q1: $170 Million Fee for DOJ; Its Numbers Are Written

in “Invisible Ink”

Forest’s

Lexapro Ghostwriting Budget Was $100K; Emory on the Payroll

Forest

Labs’ Lexapro Flap Over JAMA Article Will Likely Be Examined

by the Feds

Suit

vs. Forest Labs Names Execs Linked to Alleged Lies About

Lexapro, Celexa