Why Big Pharma Lawsuits Don't Work

Truth-stretching claims made by companies about their products are nothing new -- we need only think back to old-school infomercials for some prime examples. When the products in question are prescription drugs, however, the repercussions of product misrepresentation become much more complicated. Because there are a number of regulatory departments designed to root out potentially dangerous substances well before they make their way into patient hands, it seems reasonable to assume that the drugs prescribed to us are safe for their intended uses. Over the last few decades, the FDA has developed a number of programs designed to speed the drug approval process and more quickly deliver promising new medications to suffering patients. The 1997 Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act included a “fast track” program that allowed qualifying drugs to cut approximately a year off the median development timeline. From one point of view, cutting down the time it takes for new medications to make their way to patients in need of treatment has clear benefits. From another, shortening the review and approval process can lead to less rigorous trials with less time to observe potential side effects and interactions. Faster approval time also means that pharmaceutical companies can start to profit from their innovations more quickly, which provides another motivator for promoting a more streamlined approval process. In some cases, however, an expedited approval process can lead to complications. Pradaxa, sold without a reversal agent for its blood-thinning effects for at least five years, has contributed to severe bleeding incidents and hundreds of deaths. The drug’s manufacturer, Boehringer Ingelheim, has faced thousands of lawsuits due to the internal bleeding side effects and reached a $650 million settlement in 2014 to resolve roughly 4,000 claims. See also: The True Face of Opioid Addiction   There are cases to be made both for and against streamlining the FDA drug approval process, but as the aphorism “first, do no harm” urges, safely treating patients should always be at the core of any system. In the first quarter of 2017 alone, the pharmaceutical and health products industry spent a total of $78 million in lobbying, a $10 million increase from the same period in 2016. This massive spending has allowed large pharmaceutical companies to influence policies and laws, and the leverage that Big Pharma gains through lobbying accounts for one of the pathways allowing drugs with potentially life-threatening side effects to reach the market before they’re fully tested. In 2001, Pfizer, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, brought a drug called Bextra to market. Bextra belonged to a new class of painkillers called Cox-2 inhibitors -- purportedly safer than generics but with a much higher price tag. The FDA approved the drug to treat arthritis or menstrual cramps but rejected the drug for acute surgical pain (which would require a much higher dosage). Pfizer and its marketing partner Pharmacia pitched Bextra to surgeons and anesthesiologists anyway, and at doses up to twice what the FDA had approved as safe. Promoting a drug for off-label use is in direct contradiction to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) designed to protect the public by ensuring that pharmaceutical drugs are safe and effective for their intended uses. Unlawfully promoting drugs for unapproved uses constitutes healthcare fraud, which in turn excludes pharmaceutical companies from Medicare/Medicaid. The penalty of Medicare/Medicaid exclusion would result in the disruption of necessary prescriptions to patients, loss of jobs and stock losses for shareholders, while virtually guaranteeing financial collapse. Instead of charging Pfizer with the crime, federal prosecutors charged one of Pfizer’s subsidiaries, Pharmacia & Upjohn Co. Inc. The resolution ensured that workers at Pfizer who hadn’t engaged in illegal activity wouldn’t be affected, but it also reduced the penalty to Pfizer from federal charges to a criminal fine -- Pfizer is effectively still able to sell products through federal programs. The size of the fine (nearly $1.2 billion) pales in comparison to Pfizer’s annual revenue, and Mike Loucks, the federal prosecutor who oversaw the Pfizer investigation, worries that the penalty wasn’t steep enough to deter similar behavior in the future. Contributing to the current situation are four FDA policies that have created accelerated pathways to approval for new, breakthrough pharmaceutical drugs. For example, the 21st Century Cures Act allows companies, under certain conditions, to provide data summaries and "real world evidence" (such as observational studies, insurance claims data, patient input and anecdotal data) rather than full clinical trial results. The policy prioritizes innovation and expedited approval over public safety, resulting in an overcrowded market of nearly identical drugs backed by less comprehensive research. See also: Big Opioid Pharma = Big Tobacco?   The importance of research into new solutions to a growing list of healthcare concerns can’t be discounted, but the priorities of current systems seem to have strayed from their original purpose. With the focus behind many pharmaceuticals developed and marketed today being profitability over safety and efficacy, it’s clear that regulations need to change. The industry requires a greater focus on transparency around quality testing and legislation, as well as the elimination of exploitable policies that allow larger companies to stymie generation of quality, affordable generics. Such a shift has the potential to both reverse rising healthcare costs and improve the quality and accessibility of medication to the public.