The Department of Justice has issued a press release regarding criminal charges against the pharmaceutical company responsible for the manufacture of Lexapro and Celexa.
"WASHINGTON—Forest Pharmaceuticals Inc., a subsidiary of New York City-based Forest Laboratories Inc., has agreed to plead guilty to charges relating to obstruction of justice, the distribution of Levothroid, which at the time was an unapproved new drug, and the illegal promotion of Celexa for use in treating children and adolescents suffering from depression, the Justice Department announced today. The companies also agreed to settle pending False Claims Act allegations that Forest caused false claims to be submitted to federal health care programs for the drugs Levothroid, Celexa, and Lexapro. Forest has agreed to pay more than $313 million to resolve criminal and civil liability arising from these matters."
"Regarding Celexa, the criminal information and the False Claims Act complaint filed by the United States allege that Forest Pharmaceuticals promoted the drug for unapproved pediatric use."
This is AWESOME news! These pharmaceutical companies has been functioning with almost no checks and balances. It's about time they start seeing that they can't do anything they want disregarding how it affects human lives. AWESOME!
(It's not awesome that they did something illegal, but that's been going on for years, the good news is that they are finally facing consequences for these actions!)
Posted by: rox | September 25, 2010 at 12:26 PM