What's your response to Republican claims that the government should "get out of the way" of the private?

[Top Source]

Well gosh!

If only those Big Govt regulators would get outa the way of the Robber Barons, we the people would be SO much better off!


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/12/busine...l?_r=1&hpw
A judge in Arkansas ordered Johnson & Johnson and a subsidiary to pay more than $1.2 billion in fines on Wednesday, a day after a jury found that the companies had minimized or concealed the dangers associated with an antipsychotic drug.
The fine, which experts said ranked among the largest on record for a state fraud case involving a drug company, is the most recent in a string of legal losses for Johnson & Johnson related to its marketing of the drug, Risperdal.

In January, Texas settled a similar case with the subsidiary, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, for $158 million. Last year, a South Carolina judge levied civil penalties of $327 million against Janssen, and in 2010, a Louisiana jury awarded nearly $258 million in damages.

The Arkansas Circuit Court judge, Tim Fox, issued a penalty of $1.19 billion for nearly 240,000 violations of the state’s Medicaid fraud law; he also fined the companies $11 million for violations of the state’s deceptive practices act.



In a statement, Janssen said it would ask for a new trial or, if that failed, it would appeal. “The state did not show any Arkansas patient was ever harmed by using Risperdal,” the company said in its statement.



“They were trumpeting it as a miracle, breakthrough drug,” said Thomas Melsheimer, a lawyer who represented the whistle-blower in the Texas Risperdal case. Instead, he said, it was no better than cheaper generic alternatives. “It was grossly overpriced in relation to its qualities.”

Janssen has said it complied with all state laws and did not mislead doctors or patients about the risks of the drug.

In its 2011 annual report, Johnson & Johnson said it set aside money to pay for legal settlements or verdicts and did not expect the ultimate resolution of any Risperdal cases to affect the company in a material way.

The fine in Arkansas barely registered on Wall Street, where the company’s shares closed at $64.13, down 7 cents. At least one analyst speculated that the large fine would be reduced on appeal. Johnson has appealed the South Carolina and Louisiana decisions.

Johnson’s history with Risperdal is just one of several examples of government investigations into the marketing practices of pharmaceutical companies. In November, the British drug company GlaxoSmithKline announced that it had agreed to pay $3 billion to settle federal investigations into its sales practices for several drugs, including the diabetes drug Avandia.

In 2009, Pfizer settled for $2.3 billion over marketing of its painkiller Bextra. That same year, Eli Lilly pleaded guilty to criminal conduct involving its marketing of the antipsychotic drug Zyprexa and agreed to pay $1.4 billion in fines.

“Investors at this point have become inured to these large settlements,” said Les Funtleyder, a portfolio manager at Miller Tabak & Company, which owns Johnson & Johnson stock. “And you’ve seen it almost across all of pharma.”

If Wall Street is not moved, the public is increasingly fed up, as evidenced by the recent jury verdicts, said Erika A. Kelton, a lawyer in Washington who represented a whistle-blower in the Pfizer case involving Bextra. “I think it’s part of a bigger picture of a growing intolerance of pharmaceutical companies ignoring the rules of the road
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/...r-wins-61m
Whistle blower on big-pharma, Glaxo is awarded $96 million in contaminated Rx case.
Bactroban made in the contaminated plant was "contaminated with a micro-organism associated with bacteraemia, urinary tract infections, meningitis, wound infection, and peritonitis"
Paxil and Avandia were made there, too.
During the period surrounding whistle-blower, Cheryl Eckard's complaint, Paxil and Avandia were in the world's 50 top selling drug products.
Other drugs affected included the chest infection treatment Factive; Bactroban ointment, an antibiotic used to treat skin infections in babies; Kytril, an anti-nausea injection for cancer patients; and Tagamet, for heartburn and peptic ulcers. Drugs of different types and strengths were found in the same bottle; Avandamet was shipped in tablets of the wrong strength; and court documents show.
Cheryl Eckard, 51, will pocket the $96m share of a $750m criminal and civil settlement between US regulators and the Glaxo British pharmaceuticals group.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/27/busine...wanted=all

"GlaxoSmithKline, the British drug giant, has agreed to pay $750 million to settle criminal and civil complaints that the company for years knowingly sold contaminated baby ointment and an ineffective antidepressant...