Why is Novartis considered a controversial drugmaker in the US?
A $422 million off-label settlement, a $678 million sham speaker-programme settlement, a $347 million foreign bribery case, a generic price-fixing indictment and a data-manipulation disclosure in a landmark gene therapy approval — spanning two decades.
Novartis has been the subject of repeated federal enforcement over two decades, which critics describe as recidivism and the company describes as legacy conduct it has since reformed. The list includes a $422 million settlement in 2010 over off-label marketing of the epilepsy drug Trileptal and five other drugs; a $390 million settlement in 2015 over kickbacks involving Myfortic and Exjade, without admitting liability; a $678 million settlement in 2020 over sham speaker programmes; a $51 million settlement over copay charities; and roughly $347 million to resolve foreign bribery charges. It also carries the Zolgensma data-manipulation episode of 2019.
Current CEO Vas Narasimhan has argued that Novartis is a different company today, noting that most of the conduct predates his tenure. Critics respond that the pattern spans several leadership teams and product lines.