JAMA NOTES
Dr. M. Listens
Article on Alleged Illegal Practices of some Pharmaceutical Companies
JAMA November 17, 2020 Volume 324 November 19 Page 1995
In this issue three Doctoral Researchers hailing from the Colleges of Business at the University of Carolina at Charlotte, the San Francisco State University in San Francisco and the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. reported on their study of the activities of many Pharmaceutical firms which they labeled as illegal and which incurred money fines.
The companies were financially penalized to an amount reported as allegedly totaling $33 Billion. This spanned the period from 2003 to 2016. The types of activities they considered in their study included , bribery, environmental violations. producing adulterated or unapproved drugs, kickbacks, monopoly etc. Glaxo-Smith headed the list with 27 penalties, Johnson and Johnson was 2nd with Bayer 3rd on the list. There were 26 firms studied and 22 had received penalties for some type of infraction. Details of the study can be seen in the “Letters” on the pages in the article cited above.