DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
A U.S. District Court judge ordered a Forest Laboratories Inc.
(FRX) subsidiary to pay a criminal fine of $150 million and forfeit
assets of $14 million for violations stemming from a guilty plea
entered by the drug maker in November.
The Justice Department on Wednesday said the fine was related to
Forest's guilty plea 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 company pled guilty to charges related to obstruction of a
Food and Drug Administration regulatory inspection, to the
distribution of Levothroid in the early 1990s, which at the time
was an unapproved new drug, and to the illegal promotion of the
anti-depressant drug Celexa to treat children and adolescents.
Wednesday's sentencing of Forest was the final component of a
global resolution totaling more than $313 million to resolve
criminal and civil allegations against Forest in connection with
the distribution and marketing of some drugs. In September, Forest
agreed to pay more than $149 million in a civil settlement to
resolve False Claims Act charges involving three drugs--Levothroid,
Celexa and Lexapro.
Carmen Ortiz, U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts,
said both the criminal and civil cases indicated that the company
placed "a higher priority on increasing corporate sales than on
complying with the basic, legal requirements that Congress and the
FDA created." A Forest spokesman wasn't immediately available to
comment on the sentencing.
In January, Forest reported its fiscal third-quarter profit rose
53% on strong sales of the company's Alzheimer's and dementia
treatment.
Forest's shares were down 0.2% to $31.96 in after-hours
trading.
-By John Kell, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2480;
john.kell@dowjones.com