Pharmaceutical companies repeatedly commit the same crimes

Pharmaceutical companies repeatedly commit the same crimes

13.02.2020

If the prospects of profit from an illegal act exceed the costs for a lawsuit, even the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world are ready to commit the illegal act. The Danish physician and medical researcher Peter C. Gøtzsche, who is professor of Clinical Research Design and Analysis at the University of Copenhagen, noted already in 2012 that the same pharmaceutical companies repeated the same crimes several times – so it must be assumed they did so intentionally. In his article “Corporate crime in the pharmaceutical industry is common, serious and repetitive” he describes court cases involving the world’s ten largest pharmaceutical companies for the years 2007 to 2012. As for criminal acts, he mentions the Falsification of study results by the pharma companies Roche and SanofiAventis, the concealment of data on damages by the pharmaceutical companies Roche, Johnson & Johnson, fraud against health insurance funds by Merck, Abbott, Sanofi-Aventis, Johnson & Johnson, illegal advertising for prescriptions of medicines outside the authorized framework by Pfizer, Merck, Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, and Eli Lilly. These offences are said to have cost the pharmaceutical companies up to 3 billion US dollars each. How high then must the profit margins be for such a game with the judiciary to be worthwhile?

from sbo

Sources/Links: „Corporate crime in the pharmaceutical industry is common, serious and repetitive“ by Peter C. Gøtzsche (2012) https://krebspatientenadvokatfoundation.com/interview-todliche-medizin-und-organisierte-kriminalitat-interview-mit-prof-peter-gotzsche/