Posted At Red Herring
BY : Ben Hirschler
Pfizer said the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating its payments to physicians for prescription drugs.
The pharmaceutical maker made the admission in a Form 10Q quarterly report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company also said it was withdrawing its application to market the cardiovascular treatment Caduet in 12 European countries.
Payments to physicians and other incentives such as free samples and gratis trips to conferences at lavish resorts have been criticized by watchdog groups as improperly influencing doctors to prescribe their medications to patients.
The DOJ is also probing a deal involving Pharmacia, a company acquired by Pfizer in 2002.
The U.S. Department of Justice has informed us that it is investigating Pharmacias former contractual relationship with a health care intermediary, said the company in its filing on Wednesday. We have received requests for information and documents from the U.S. Department of Justice relating to certain physician payments budgeted to our prescription pharmaceutical products.
Shares of Pfizer were down $0.09 to $22.07 in recent trading.
Pfizer declined to provide additional details about the investigation for right now. Unfortunately were not able to comment beyond whats in the disclosure, said Pfizer spokesman Paul Fitzhenry. As things continue, there probably will be more that we will be able to say, but at this point thats the extent of what we can say.
Caduet Withdrawal
Pfizer said Caduet, which combines the cholesterol drug Lipitor and hypertension medicine Norvasc, was facing concerns from regulators in some parts of Europe about whether its benefits had been demonstrated.
The New York City-based company decided to withdraw its application for Caduet from Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, Finland, and Greece.
However, Pfizer has received approval for the drug from other European countries, including France, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Iceland, Luxembourg, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Pfizer said it plans to seek approval elsewhere.
