US drugmaker Pfizer has agreed to pay $2.3bn (£1.4bn) in the largest healthcare fraud settlement in the history of the Department of Justice.
Holy crap, I can't believe this bit-
Pfizer reported a 90% drop in profit to $268m in the fourth quarter of 2008, because of the $2.3bn legal settlement, indicating that the company was aware they would be paying this sum before the terms of the deal with the Department of Justice were announced.
..not because they knew (of course they knew) but because THEY STILL MADE 268 MILLION DOLLARS PROFIT despite the fine, in that QUARTER- so usually, they get away with it and make ten billion dollars profit a year- blimey! I thought I was cynical about big pharma, but not nearly cynical enough! |
