The New York Times reports that pharma giant Pfizer has reached a $45 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over charges that it and Wyeth (which it gobbled up in 2009) regularly bribed doctors and health care workers in such countries as Russia, China, Bulgaria, Italy, Indonesia, and Pakistan to prescribe its potions, in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Another Pfizer subsidiary has agreed to pay a $15 million penalty to settle similar charges.
According to Kara Brockmeyer, head of the S.E.C. division that enforces the FCPA, "Pfizer subsidiaries in several countries had bribery so entwined in their sales culture that they offered points and bonus programs to improperly reward foreign officials who proved to be their best customers." (In these countries, doctors are often government employees, which is why the FCPA applies; bribing a privately-employed doctor apparently would not be covered by this law.)
This $60 million in fines represents 0.08% of Pfizer's $67,425 million revenue (2011). To compare that with human scale numbers, it's a $40 fine for someone making $50,000 a year. It's a parking ticket level of fine, for bribery that directly affects people's health and lives. So much for government regulation interfering with the operations of mammoth corporations.
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