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By Sarah N. Lynch
WASHINGTON, March 31 (Reuters) - The amount of money bigU.S. pharmaceutical manufacturers have paid to settle chargesfor violating federal health care laws has declined sharply inrecent years, prompting a non-profit watchdog group to call foran increase in enforcement efforts.
In a new analysis that chronicles 25 years worth ofpharmaceutical industry settlements and court judgments, thegroup, known as Public Citizen, found that just $2.4 billion infederal financial penalties were recovered from 2014 to 2015 - afigure that is less than one third of the $8.7 billion recoveredfrom 2012 to 2013.
The report calls for larger penalties and possible prisonsentences, noting that without tougher sanctions, illegalactivities will continue to be "part of the companies' businessmodel."
The report also found there was a nearly 80 percent drop in settlements between companies and states in 2014-2015 from2012-2013.
In addition, the report found that in 2014-2015, criminalpenalties against large pharmaceutical companies have reachednew lows, totaling only $44 million, compared to $2.7 billionfrom 2012 to 2013.
Sammy Almashat, one of the researchers at Public Citizen whohelped author the report, said the cause for the decline insettlements is still not clear.
The report explores several possible reasons, from a drop inenforcement and shifts away from off-label marketingprosecutions, to changes in Medicaid pharmaceuticalreimbursement strategies.
But Almashat said he does not believe the decrease reflectsimprovement by large pharmaceutical companies in their overallcorporate compliance.
"Previous penalties never have been large enough to deterthe most common types of pharmaceutical fraud," he said in astatement. "So it would be surprising if the industry suddenlydecided of its own accord to comply with laws it has routinelyviolated for decades."
Thursday's report updates a prior study that Public Citizenreleased in 2012 that explores federal and state enforcement inthe sector dating back to 1991.
Over the 25-year study period, Public Citizen found thatGlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer have paid the most infinancial penalties, with GlaxoSmithKline paying $7.9 billionand Pfizer paying $3.9 billion.
The report also for the first time provides a list of"repeat offenders" that have repeatedly broken a variety offederal health care laws over the years.
Pfizer tops the list with the most settlements, followed byMerck. GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis andBristol-Myers Squibb tied for third place.
Spokespeople for Bristol-Myers, Merck and Novartis declinedto comment, and the others did not have an immediate comment. (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Andrew Hay)
