Updated: Johnson & Johnson Here We Go Again? Corporate Integrity Agreements
Updated: March 3, 2015
#HeyMrDOJ
Well-it only took them a year…
Department of Justice tags Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon’s Gary Pruden
in a story about Corporate Integrity Agreements
March 15, 2014
Johnson & Johnson has been a great case study for The Sociopathic Business Model ™ and today we have more information to add to the ever growing case file. As a quick refresher Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon unit, which made Gynecare Prolift and TVT Retropubic meshes, lost or destroyed thousands of documents and computer files about the development of the devices from as far back as 2007.
Johnson & Johnson (Parent) owns
Ethicon (subsidiary) and Gynecare Prolift (subsidiary)
and under the
Corporate Integrity Agreement that Johnson & Johnson
signed with the US Government indicates that all the
affiliates (subsidiaries) enter into the agreement.*
The very short version: the ‘parent’ company is responsible for the whole company and does not get to dismiss or hide behind lack of knowledge on a situation. This agreement is signed when a company has been found working outside of the law.
Johnson & Johnson has maintained that its relationship with the medical community is appropriate and within legal bounds, but a new report by the Wall Street Journal suggests that there may be subtle influences that slip through the cracks of legal conduct. Dr. Vincent Lucente reportedly received about $800,000 over a period of 10 years as a consultant for Johnson & Johnson, during which time he made efforts to influence language used in medical trade publications.
Now let’s look at the players during this time and go ahead and apply some cognitive learning to this situation coupled with fact based evidence over time to determine if we still want to support Johnson & Johnson:
Wait? Why do those names look so familiar? Oh that’s right:
Johnson & Johnson/Janssen Pharmaceutical’s
Yellow Brick Road of
Risperdal!
Over 1,207 Children suffered serious problems
Including 31 children who died, 11 of which for off-label promotion
A Time Line to a $2.2Billion Fine
That’s Alex Gorsky from Risperdal fame and CEO of Johnson & Johnson
Any guess who’s next?
That’s right, it’s Gary Pruden of Risperdal fame and CEO of Ethicon
Are we seeing a pattern that’s replicated and rewarded?
And Bridget Ross CEO of Gynecare Prolift
One could make the argument a company should exhibit integrity before entering into an agreement on such grounds. The Department of Justice is supposed to protect the public but are made up of appointed officials so there is no challenging the validity of these agreements which appear not to be worth the paper they’re written on if we apply fact based evidence over time. Again, any information is good information it is what we choose do to with it as patients, consumers and taxpayers alike and where we put our money counts! If you are tired of watching what appears to be a cycle of rewarding bad behavior within corporate America then join the campaign to remove people like Alex Gorsky, Gary Pruden and Bridget Ross from the system or create a campaign of your own!
*Johnson & Johnson (J&J) hereby enters into this Corporate Integrity Agreement
(CIA) with the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the United States Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS) to promote compliance with the statutes, regulations,
and written directives of Medicare, Medicaid, and all other Federal health care programs
(as defined in 42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7b(f)) (Federal health care program requirements) and
with the statutes, regulations, and written directives of the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA requirements).Contemporaneously with this CIA, J&J and certain J&J Pharmaceutical Affiliates
are entering into Settlement Agreements with the United States. They will also enter into
settlement agreements with various states (State Settlement Agreements) and J&J’s
agreement to this CIA is a condition precedent to those agreements.