Pfizer to pay $2.3bn for 'off-label' drugs - 03 Sep 09

The world's largest drug maker has agreed to pay a record $2.3bn fine to settle fraud charges involving marketing drugs for uses that were not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Officials from the justice separtment and the department of health and human services said pharmaceutical giant Pfizer promoted four drugs for use on certain ailments or at dosages that were not approved by the FDA.

One of those drugs was the anti-inflammatory medication Bextra, which Pfizer pulled off the market in 2005 after it was linked to increasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Authorities say this is the company's fourth such settlement in the past 10 years.

Al Jazeera's Rosiland Jordan reports.

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