Click here to subscribe today or Login.
Pfizer hit with big fine
Federal prosecutors hit Pfizer Inc. with a record-breaking $2.3 billion in fines Wednesday and called the world’s largest drug maker a repeating corporate cheat for illegal drug promotions that plied doctors with free golf, massages, and resort junkets.
Justice Department officials said the overall settlement is the largest ever paid by a drug company for alleged violations of federal drug rules, and the $1.2 billion criminal fine is the largest ever in any U.S. criminal case. The total includes $1 billion in civil penalties and a $100 million criminal forfeiture.
Authorities called Pfizer a repeat offender, noting it is the company’s fourth such settlement of government charges in the last decade.
The allegations surround the marketing of 13 different drugs, including big sellers such as Viagra, Zoloft, and Lipitor.
Loucks said that even as Pfizer was negotiating deals on past misconduct, it was continuing to violate the very same laws with other drugs.
Stanford hoard down 30%
Stanford University has laid off 412 employees over the past eight months and plans an additional 60 layoffs later this year to offset a steep drop in the value of its endowment.
Stanford officials said Tuesday the layoffs have been spread throughout its graduate schools, academic departments and administrative units.
Officials say Stanford’s endowment, which funds a big portion of its budget, is expected to decline 30 percent to $12 billion this year.
Sony goes with Chrome
Sony Corp. is giving Google Inc.’s fledging Chrome browser a boost by installing it as the primary browser on Vaio-brand computers sold in the United States and Europe.
The Sony devices continue to provide Microsoft Corp.’s Internet Explorer — the world’s most widely used Web browser — allowing users to have a choice between the two. But many users stick with the browser that is preset as the default, meaning they are likely to experience Chrome as their primary — perhaps only — gateway to the Web.
Sony is the first PC maker to sell computers with Chrome pre-installed.
Server sales in tank
The global market for computer servers crashed in the second quarter of this year, with sales falling 30 percent to the lowest level in 13 years, according to the industry research firm IDC, although analysts for the company said they’re seeing signs of recovery recently.
Some computer makers did better than others: IDC estimated that industry leader IBM increased its share of the market to 34.5 percent, up from 32.7 percent a year ago, even as its server sales fell 26 percent to $3.4 billion.