Ropes & Gray took the lead among several firms in advising Pfizer on its decision Wednesday to pay $2.3 billion in fines and penalties to settle charges it illegally marketed several drugs for off-label uses and paid kickbacks to doctors, according to lawyers on the deal. The settlement is believed to be the largest health care fraud settlement in U.S. history, according to The Wall Street Journal and the U.S. Department of Justice.
About $1.3 billion of the total penalty goes toward resolving criminal charges that Pfizer illegally marketed the anti-inflammatory drug Bextra for off-label uses, according to the DOJ and the WSJ. A Pfizer subsidiary, Pharmacia & Upjohn Co., pleaded guilty to a felony count of violating federal laws on drug branding.
