Allergan, the manufacturer of Botox, will have to pay the US government a 600 million dollar fine for promoting the improper use of the medicine between 2000 and 2005. The same company has admitted to having conducted promotional campaigns for the sale and use of Botox for a series of ailments for which it had never been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Among the most common sponsored "misuses" - and, according to public health experts, the most dangerous - is to combat the spasms caused by infantile cerebral palsy. the lawsuit against Allergan is the latest example of the campaign mounted by the US Justice Department to crack down on illegal and fraudulent drug promotions implemented for years by various pharmaceutical companies. In the lawsuit brought by the US government, the company is accused of "having vigorously promoted the use of Botox for treatments not declared safe for health by the FDA", of having paid doctors under the table to prescribe Botox for these uses, of having given "bribes" to foreign officials for similar marketing operations overseas. The company only admitted to a couple of misdemeanors but agreed to pay a $600 million settlement and to publish the names of doctors who receive money from the company.
4 September 2010 – Year 6, Number 147
Allergan in Irvine, California
