One Barely Noticed Settlement by Pfizer Suggests the Futility of Polite Protests about Health Policy

A few days ago we noticed just one more marcher in theparade of legal settlements.  But it was once again a huge health care corporation, and it had aspects that demanded attention.Pfizer Makes $94 Million Settlement of Allegations of Fraud to Delay Generic CompetitionA tinyitem in Becker ' s Hospital News on November 28, 2017, stated:Pfizer will pay $94 million to resolve allegations that it used fraudulent patents to delay generic competition for its anti-inflammatory drug Celebrex.The lawsuit, brought by 32 direct purchasers of Celebrex in April and certified a class action lawsuit in August, claimed Pfizer attempted to revive its invalidated patent by makingmaterial misrepresentations to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. As a result, the U.S. PTO granted Pfizer a new patent based on this reportedly inaccurate information.Further, the plaintiffs — including American Sales Co., Rochester Drug Co-Operative, Cesar Castillo and more — allege Pfizer filed a lawsuit against five generic manufacturers for infringing upon thefraudulently obtained patent to maintain monopoly over the drug.That was about it.  I could find no more extensive coverage of this settlement in any source publicly available without a subscription.  So this settlement, likemany previous ones which suggested less than perfection on the part of the leadership of our dysfunctional health care system, wasanechoic.Also, as is typical ofsettlements made by big health care corporations of une...
Source: Health Care Renewal - Category: Health Management Tags: adverse effects Celebrex deception impunity legal settlements Pfizer restraint of competition Source Type: blogs