Well-written and, unfortunately, all-too-cogent.

In related news, Johnson & Johnson, of Tylenol-recall fame, is under fire from the FDA for failing to recall–yes–Tylenol. http://ow.ly/Y7YC

And since trouble travels in pairs, J&J is also being sued by the Department of Justice for kickbacks in a deal with Omnicare. http://ow.ly/Y7ZJ In this case, J&J allegedly increased its revenue by $180M. (This from the company with arguably the biggest reputation for highly ethical behavior in the pharmaceutical industry). If it reaches a penalty phase, will the penalty be higher, or lower, than $180M? Your post suggests much less; and I’d bet you’re right.

If so, it suggests something even worse than your conclusion: that the government is tacitly complicit in the business model. As long as the penalties are consistently less than the profit gained by behaving unethically, such abuses are not only profitable, but essentially condoned.

One would wish that pharma leaders would find some internal higher ethical ground from which they could lead without being beaten about the head by regulators. But if they can’t, we should at least insist on regulators who take the law seriously enough to enforce it–not just increase the cost-of-sales and increase the federal coffers.