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The government awards contracts to companies with histories of misconduct such as contract fraud and environmental, ethics, and labor violations. In the absence of a centralized federal database listing instances of misconduct, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is providing such data. We believe that it will lead to improved contracting decisions and public access to information about how the government spends hundreds of billions of taxpayer money each year on goods and services. Report an instance of misconduct »

Pfizer, Inc.

Lipitor False Claims

Date: 10/28/2002 (Date of Announcement)

Misconduct Type: Government Contract Fraud

Enforcement Agency: Health and Human Servs.

Contracting Party: Multiple Agencies

Court Type: Civil

Amount: $49,000,000

Disposition: Settlement

Synopsis: In October 2002, Pfizer and its subsidiaries Warner-Lambert and Parke-Davis paid $49 million to resolve False Claims Act charges that it had fraudulently avoided paying rebates owed to state and federal health programs by failing to report best prices for its cholesterol drug Lipitor. Parke-Davis Labs, then a subsidiary of Warner-Lambert, which was subsequently acquired by Pfizer in 2000, allegedly overstated the Lipitor best price in the first and second quarters of 1999 by concealing $250,000 of cash discounts that were given to a key managed care customer in Louisiana in exchange for favorable status on the managed care organization's drug formulary. As part of the settlement, Pfizer also entered into a five-year corporate integrity agreement with the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General to prevent similar violations from occurring in the future.