Former Glaxo Attorney, Lauren Stevens, has been charged with falsifying documents to influence a federal agency, obstructing an official proceeding, and making false statements to the FDA, according to an indictment issued by the United States Justice Department.
The indictment alleges that Stevens, the formal vice president and associate general counsel for GlaxoSmithKline falsely denied off-label promotion for one of Glaxo's prescription drugs. Off-label promotion is when a company or individual markets a prescription drug for unapproved uses.
According to the indictment, Stevens sent a series of letters to the FDA falsely denying that off label promotion took place, and withheld evidence that would have demonstrated that numerous doctors had been paid to give professional seminars to other doctors that included information about unapproved uses for the drug.
This is one of the unusual moments when the federal government has prosecuted individual executives in connection with off-label marketing. If convicted, each of the obstruction charges carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Glaxo has not been charged with a crime as of yet.
