US drugmaker Pfizer has agreed to pay $2.3bn (£1.4bn) in the largest healthcare fraud settlement in the history of the Department of Justice.Pfizer pleaded guilty to a criminal violation of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act for misb*ng drugs.
It illegally promoted four drugs and caused false claims to be submitted to government healthcare programmes for uses that were not medically accepted.
US officials said Pfizer would have to enter a corporate integrity agreement.
The pharmaceutical firm said earlier this year that it would pay the fine “to put issues that diminish trust behind us”.
Pfizer reported a 90% drop in profit to $268m in the fourth quarter of 2008, because of the $2.3bn legal settlement, indicating that the company was aware they would be paying this sum before the terms of the deal with the Department of Justice were announced.
The company faces a criminal fine of $1.195bn and a subsidiary company of Pfizer - Pharmacia & Upjohn - will forfeit $105m, totalling a criminal resolution of $1.3bn.
The remaining $1bn fine was levied to resolve the allegations under the civil False Claims Act.