Drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline has preliminarily agreed to a $3 billion settlement over the sales and marketing practices of several of its drugs, including the diabetes drug Avandia.
This represents the largest federal drug-company settlement to date, surpassing the $2.3 billion paid by Pfizer in 2009 for illegally promoting off-label uses of four of its drugs.
As it turns out, GlaxoSmithKline spent 11 years covering up trial data that showed Avandia was a risky drug for the heart. In 1999, drugmaker SmithKline Beecham began a study to compare Avandia with another diabetes drug, Actos. The results showed that Avandia worked no better than Actos and had greater risks to the heart.
The study results were buried at the request of GlaxoSmithKline executives and were not reported to federal regulators, as is typically required by law.
GlaxoSmithKline not only hid negative study data, they also manipulated study data to fit their agenda.
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