CNN’s Special Investigations Unit reveals internal company documents on Bextra and Pfizer’s health care fraud. Watch at 3 p.m. ET Saturday on CNN.
Imagine being charged with a crime, but an imaginary friend takes the rap for you.
That is essentially what happened when Pfizer, the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, was caught illegally marketing Bextra, a painkiller that was taken off the market in 2005 because of safety concerns.
When the criminal case was announced last fall, federal officials touted their prosecution as a model for tough, effective enforcement. “It sends a clear message” to the pharmaceutical industry, said Kevin Perkins, assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division.
But beyond the fanfare, a CNN Special Investigation found another story, one that officials downplayed when they declared victory. It’s a story about the power major pharmaceutical companies have even when they break the laws intended to protect patients.
Read more at: CNN Health
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{Photography by Wadem}
Who says teenage stalkers and demanding bosses send the most irksome text messages? Not Elizabeth Espinal.
The New Yorker recently sued Miami-Dade’s mammoth supplier of most things fast and greasy, Burger King, claiming the company acted like an ex-boyfriend who couldn’t take a hint: It repeatedly text-messaged her — with spam ads — although she told it to get lost.
Espinal’s contention: Burger King “caused actual harm” by harassing her with the “cryptic” messages, according the lawsuit. Espinal was “subjected to aggravation” and made to pay for receiving them. Now she is seeking — get this — $5 million in relief.
God bless the American legal system.
Read more at: Miami New Times
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{Photography by Shibuya246}
Now this is ridiculous. Not only did Apple pull all the unofficial Google Voice apps out of the App Store for an absurd reason, now they expect the developers of those apps to fund refunds out of their own pockets.
Read more at: Gizmodo
