what the fraud settlements add up to
we keep a legal record for each medication on this site. this page puts the federal fraud resolutions from those records on one table, so you can see the total, who pleaded guilty, and what the government said the drug was pushed for. it is a list of receipts, not an argument about whether the drugs work.
$12.6 billion
ten federal resolutions, 2004 to 2020, that named a psychiatric drug
8 of 10
included a guilty plea by the company or a subsidiary
children, the elderly
the promoted uses in four of the government’s releases
the table
amounts are the whole resolution as the department of justice announced it. where the psychiatric drug was one of several, the scope column says so, and you should read the number that way. every row links to the DOJ release and to the drug’s full legal record on this site, where the recalls, verdicts and settlements that did not involve the federal government are also kept.
| year | company | psychiatric drug named | amount | plea | promoted for, per the release | scope |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Warner-Lambert (Pfizer)[1] | Neurontin (gabapentin) | $430 million | guilty plea, two counts | bipolar disorder and other unapproved uses | the psychiatric drug was the subject |
| 2008 | Cephalon[2] | Provigil (modafinil), among three | $425 million | guilty plea, one misdemeanor count | unapproved uses of three drugs | one of three drugs |
| 2009 | Eli Lilly[3] | Zyprexa (olanzapine) | $1.415 billion | guilty plea, misdemeanor misbranding | dementia in elderly patients | the psychiatric drug was the subject |
| 2009 | Pfizer[4] | Geodon (ziprasidone) in the release; Zoloft (sertraline) in the civil agreement | $2.3 billion | subsidiary felony plea (over Bextra) | unapproved uses of four drugs; kickbacks alleged on others | one of several drugs; the plea was about a painkiller |
| 2010 | AstraZeneca[5] | Seroquel (quetiapine) | $520 million | no plea; civil only | sleeplessness, aggression and other unapproved uses, marketed to pediatricians and geriatricians | the psychiatric drug was the subject |
| 2010 | Forest[6] | Celexa (citalopram); Lexapro (escitalopram) in the civil settlement | $313 million | guilty plea | children and adolescents | the psychiatric drugs were the subject |
| 2012 | GlaxoSmithKline[7] | Paxil (paroxetine), Wellbutrin (bupropion); Lamictal in the civil allegations | $3 billion | guilty plea, three counts | Paxil for patients under 18; Wellbutrin for unapproved uses; plus unreported safety data on a diabetes drug | two of the three criminal counts were psychiatric drugs |
| 2013 | Johnson & Johnson (Janssen)[8] | Risperdal (risperidone) | $2.2 billion | guilty plea, misdemeanor misbranding | elderly patients with dementia | the psychiatric drug was the subject; two other drugs in the civil part |
| 2019 | Reckitt Benckiser[9] | Suboxone (buprenorphine) | $1.4 billion | no plea; non-prosecution agreement | safety claims about the film version | the drug was the subject |
| 2020 | Indivior[10] | Suboxone (buprenorphine) | $600 million | subsidiary felony plea; former CEO misdemeanor | safety claims about the film version | the drug was the subject |
how to read a number like this
a guilty plea is an admission. a civil settlement is not, unless the document says so, and most say the opposite. the government’s releases describe what the company was accused of promoting the drug for; they do not say the drug does not work, and neither does this page. what the table does show is a pattern the per-drug pages document one at a time: the same marketing conduct, the same populations, across companies and across two decades, with the fines treated as a cost of doing business. whether that changed anything is a question the more recent rows help you answer.
what is not on this table
- private lawsuits and confidential settlements: paxil birth-defect claims (reported by bloomberg at more than $1 billion across 800 cases, never adjudicated), seroquel diabetes claims, risperdal gynecomastia verdicts. they are on the drug pages, labeled as reporting or as verdicts, not as federal resolutions.
- state attorney general settlements that did not involve the department of justice.
- any company we could not find in the DOJ record. the search was made through the per-drug pages, each verified against the DOJ archive on the date shown there.
questions people ask
How much have drug companies paid in federal fraud settlements over psychiatric drugs?
About $12.6 billion across ten Department of Justice resolutions from 2004 to 2020 that named a psychiatric medication. That is the whole-resolution total; in three of the ten (Pfizer 2009, Cephalon 2008, GlaxoSmithKline 2012) the psychiatric drug was one of several drugs in the case, and the table says so row by row.
Did the companies admit wrongdoing?
Eight of the ten resolutions included a guilty plea by the company or a subsidiary, usually a misdemeanor for misbranding. AstraZeneca’s Seroquel settlement was civil only, with no plea and no admission, and Reckitt Benckiser signed a non-prosecution agreement. A civil settlement resolves allegations; it is not an admission unless the document says so.
What were the drugs promoted for?
In the government’s own releases: Paxil and Celexa for children and adolescents, Zyprexa and Risperdal for elderly patients with dementia, Seroquel for sleeplessness and aggression among other unapproved uses, Neurontin for bipolar disorder among others, and Suboxone film with safety claims the government called unlawful.
Does this mean the drugs do not work?
No. Every resolution here is about how a drug was marketed or what was reported, not about whether it works for its approved use. The efficacy evidence for each medication is on its own page, both directions.
sources
- US Department of Justice. "Warner-Lambert to Pay $430 Million to Resolve Criminal & Civil Health Care Liability Relating to Off-Label Promotion," 13 May 2004. https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2004/May/04_civ_322.htm
- US Department of Justice. "Biopharmaceutical Company, Cephalon, to Pay $425 Million & Enter Plea to Resolve Allegations of Off-Label Marketing," 29 September 2008. https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2008/September/08-civ-860.html
- US Department of Justice. "Eli Lilly and Company Agrees to Pay $1.415 Billion to Resolve Allegations of Off-label Promotion of Zyprexa," 15 January 2009. https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/eli-lilly-and-company-agrees-pay-1415-billion-resolve-allegations-label-promotion-zyprexa
- United States ex rel. et al. v. Pfizer Inc., civil Settlement Agreement, September 2009 (Zoloft among the "Covered Drugs"); the DOJ release for the $2.3 billion resolution names Bextra, Geodon, Zyvox and Lyrica as the off-label drugs. Read alongside our sertraline record. https://www.justice.gov/archive/usao/pae/News/2009/sep/pfizer_settlementagreement.pdf
- US Department of Justice. "Pharmaceutical Giant AstraZeneca to Pay $520 Million for Off-label Drug Marketing," 27 April 2010. Civil-only. https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/pharmaceutical-giant-astrazeneca-pay-520-million-label-drug-marketing
- US Department of Justice. "Drug Maker Forest Pleads Guilty; To Pay More Than $313 Million to Resolve Criminal Charges and False Claims Act Allegations," 15 September 2010. https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/drug-maker-forest-pleads-guilty-pay-more-313-million-resolve-criminal-charges-and-false
- US Department of Justice. "GlaxoSmithKline to Plead Guilty and Pay $3 Billion to Resolve Fraud Allegations and Failure to Report Safety Data," 2 July 2012. https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/glaxosmithkline-plead-guilty-and-pay-3-billion-resolve-fraud-allegations-and-failure-report
- US Department of Justice. "Johnson & Johnson to Pay More Than $2.2 Billion to Resolve Criminal and Civil Investigations," 4 November 2013. https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/johnson-johnson-pay-more-22-billion-resolve-criminal-and-civil-investigations
- US Department of Justice. "Justice Department Obtains $1.4 Billion from Reckitt Benckiser Group in Largest Recovery in a Case Concerning an Opioid Drug in United States History," 11 July 2019. https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/justice-department-obtains-14-billion-reckitt-benckiser-group-largest-recovery-case
- US Department of Justice. "Indivior Solutions Pleads Guilty To Felony Charge And Indivior Entities Agree To Pay $600 Million To Resolve Criminal And Civil Liability," 24 July 2020. https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/indivior-solutions-pleads-guilty-felony-charge-and-indivior-entities-agree-pay-600-million
related: has your psychiatrist been paid by the industry? type in your zip code
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