Attorney General George Jepsen is announcing that Connecticut has joined with 44 other state and territorial attorneys general in a settlement with GlaxoSmithKline, LLC to resolve allegations of unlawful promotion of the asthma drug, Advair, and antidepressants Paxil and Wellbutrin.
The state alleged that GSK violated state consumer protection laws by misrepresenting the uses and qualities of these drugs. The settlement will ultimately benefit consumers and bring major modifications to various sales tactics that are used to motivate and compensate pharmaceutical sales teams.
GSK has agreed to pay the states $105,000,000 to resolve the allegations. Connecticut’s share will be $1,619,856.30, of which $200,000 will be split equally between the Department of Consumer Protection’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program and the Office of Attorney General’s Consumer Fund. The remaining amount will be allocated to the state’s General Fund.
“False or misleading claims about prescription drugs can put consumers at a critical risk," said Attorney General Jepsen. “We take allegations of deceptive marketing and misrepresentation very seriously, and this sort of conduct simply will not be tolerated. Once in place, reforms included in this settlement will protect consumers from potentially deceptive practices.”
The Consent Judgment filed today will require GSK to reform their marketing and promotional practices. Specific terms prohibit GSK from making false claims about any products and from making promotional claims that are not approved or permitted by the FDA. The Consent Judgment also prohibits GSK from disseminating information describing any off-label uses of their products, unless consistent with applicable FDA regulations. In addition, the settlement requires scientifically trained personnel to be responsible for developing approved responses to healthcare provider questions to ensure that such responses that are neither biased nor promotional.
Lastly, the settlement requires GSK to continue their Patient First Program through March of 2019. The mission of the Patient First Program is to reduce financial incentives for sales representatives to engage in deceptive marketing that can harm patients and consumers.
Assistant Attorneys General Thomas Saadi and Phillip Rosario, head of the Consumer Protection Department, assisted the Attorney General with this matter.
Please click here to view the settlement document.
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