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Violation Tracker Individual Record

Company: Forest Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Current Parent Company: AbbVie
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Penalty: $164,000,000
Year: 2011
Date: March 2, 2011
Offense Group: healthcare-related offenses
Primary Offense: off-label or unapproved promotion of medical products
Mega-Scandal: Improper Drug Marketing
Violation Description: Drug manufacturer Forest Pharmaceuticals Inc. was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner to pay a criminal fine of $150 million and forfeit assets of $14 million following the company's guilty plea in November 2010 to one felony count of obstructing justice, one misdemeanor count of distributing an unapproved new drug in interstate commerce and one misdemeanor count of distributing a misbranded drug in interstate commerce, the Justice Department announced. The company, a subsidiary of New York City-based Forest Laboratories Inc., pleaded guilty to charges related to obstruction of an FDA regulatory inspection, to the distribution of Levothroid, which at the time was an unapproved new drug, and to the illegal promotion of the anti-depressant drug Celexa for use in treating children and adolescents.
Level of Government: federal
Action Type: agency action
Agency: Food and Drug Administration referral to the Justice Department
Civil or Criminal Case: civil and criminal
HQ Country of Current Parent: USA
HQ State of Current Parent: Illinois
Ownership Structure of Current Parent: publicly traded
Major Industry of Current Parent: pharmaceuticals
Specific Industry of Current Parent: pharmaceuticals
Source of Data: (click here)
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Current parent company note: Parent-subsidiary relationship is current as of the most recent revision listed in the Update Log.