Johnson

　　強生公司

　　Out of the mire?

　　走出困境了嗎?

　　The Justice Department may spoil the drugmaker sfresh start.

　　司法部可能會毀了這家藥廠的新開始。

　　FOR the past few years Johnson Johnson has stumbled clumsily through thelegal and reputational swamps of contaminated pills and faulty fake hips. Under a newchief executive, it is supposed to be taking a confident stride onto firmer terrain. On April26th Alex Gorsky, a senior manager who joined the company as a salesman in 1988, wasdue to take charge. Yet the ground is still worryingly soft. America s Justice Departmentwants Mr Gorsky to testify about alleged fraud. J J says he has nothing to do with thecase.

　　過去幾年，強生官司不斷，毒藥丸、假臀缺陷等丑聞頻出，公司步履艱難。在新掌門的領導下，公司有望重拾信心，大踏步向更高的目標邁進。4月26日，1988年就進入強生從事銷售工作的公司高管亞歷克斯?高斯基走馬上任。但令人擔憂的是，公司境遇依然艱難。美國司法部想要高斯基先生為公司的欺詐指控作證。強生方面表示，高斯基先生與該案無關。

　　The government s request, made on April 11th, is the latest stage of a long dispute. Thedepartment s lawyers filed their suit in 2010, alleging that J J made improperpayments to boost prescriptions of its drugs. J J can at least take solace in not beingalone. The Justice Department has sued almost every big drug firm.

　　政府4月11日作出的請求不過是這場長期糾紛的最新進展。司法部律師于2010年提請訴訟，他們宣稱，強生為了推銷他們的藥方進行了非正常的支付。令強生公司得到慰藉是至少它不是孤軍奮戰 ，幾乎所有的大藥廠都受到過司法部的指控。

　　Most suits are brought under the False Claims Act, which since 1986 has encouraged citizensto sue firms that defraud the government. Whistleblowers are fortified not only byrighteousness but also by a share of damages. They and the department have forged amodel public-private partnership. Since 1986 the team has won more than $30 billion.

　　大多數訴訟的依據是1986年生效的《虛假申報法案》，該法案鼓勵公民對那些欺騙政府的公司進行起訴。一些人踴躍揭露黑幕，一是出自正義，二是可以獲得一份賠償。他們和司法部共同打造了一個公私合伙的典范，1986年以來，這支隊伍的收入超過了300億美元。

　　Billions have been wrung out of drugmakers. The firms have been charged with marketingdrugs for unapproved uses, paying illegal kickbacks to raise sales, or both, cheating thepublic-health programmes that foot the bill. In the last quarter of 2011 Abbott said it hadreserved $1.5 billion to pay penalties for its marketing practices, Amgen said it hadreserved $780m for a similar purpose, and GlaxoSmithKline announced a staggering $3billion agreement with the department.

　　制藥廠被迫繳納數十億美元，他們被處罰的理由是未經批準銷售藥物，為擴大銷售支付回扣，或者二者兼而有之，有的公司對支付患者醫藥費用的全民醫療保險項目進行欺瞞。2011年最后一季度，雅培表示，他們已為公司的營銷行為準備了15億美元的罰款。安進表示為同樣的目的他們也保留了7.8億美元，葛蘭素史克宣布他們們與司法部之間達成了一個金額高達30億美元的協議。

　　The department says that J J s questionable antics took place between 1999 and2004. It alleges that the company used rebates, grants and other kickbacks to encourageOmnicare, a pharmacy for nursing homes, to recommend its drugs to patients. Prosecutorssay that J J continued to push sales of a drug even after warnings that it had not beenproperly studied in old people. On April 11th the government s lawyers asked a judge tocompel Mr Gorsky, who oversaw the implicated business at the time, to testify. If the judgeagrees, J J may find a settlement attractive.

　　司法部表示，強生的不軌行為發生在1999年至2004年間，他們稱，強生使用返利、補貼等回扣方式鼓勵一家專供養老院的藥店Omnicare向患者推薦他們的藥品。檢查官說，在被告知尚不明確這些藥物是否適用老年人的情況下，強生依然我行我素，繼續推銷他們的藥品。4月11日，政府律師要求法官迫使當時負責相關業務的高斯基先生出庭作證。如果法官同意，強生可能會更希望庭外和解。

　　Such a deal would not be the last. Settlements show no sign of abating, for two main reasons.First, whatever the merits of the case against J J, it is not clear that companies arechanging their ways. The benefits of aggressive marketing often outweigh the cost ofsettlements. Aaron Kesselheim of Harvard University tracked sales of Neurontin, a drugapproved for epilepsy but prescribed for much more. By 2004, when Pfizer paid $430m inpenalties, annual sales had reached $2.7 billion.

　　這樣的交易不會是最后一筆，問題的解決并不表明這種情況有所減少，這有兩個主要原因，第一，不管這起針對強生的案件價值幾何，我們都弄不清楚這些公司是否已改邪歸正。積極的營銷帶來的利益常常超過解決爭端的成本，哈佛大學的阿倫?凱澤爾海姆對批準為治療癲癇、實際上用途更廣的處方藥鎮頑癲進行了跟蹤后發現，到2004年，輝瑞支付的罰款為4.3億美元，而這種藥每年銷售已達27億美元。

　　Second, there is ample appetite to sue. Barack Obama s health-care law included newmeasures to fight fraud. For every $1 spent in such cases, the Justice Department boasts itgets $7 in return. Whistleblowers keep coming forward: last year they tooted in recordnumbers. And states are getting fiercer: a judge in Arkansas recently ordered J J to pay$1.1 billion for violating the state s version of the False Claims Act.

　　第二，上訴者往往會獅子大開口且樂此不彼，奧巴馬的保健法為打擊欺詐增添了新的內容。在類似案例中，每支出一美元，司法部就會得到7美元的回報。報料揭丑者前赴后繼：去年，他們戰果空前。各州也愈加猛烈，最近，因違反州頒發的《虛假申報法案》，阿肯色州的一位法官要求強生支付11億美元。

　　Drug executives may find one penalty especially scary. In March Eric Holder, the attorney-general, said the Justice Department would go after people as well as companies. Forexample, they might be banned from business with any government health-care programme.In a country where spending on health is nearly 18% of the economy, that could finish someamply remunerated careers.

　　不過有一項處罰條款會讓制藥公司的老總們嚇出一身冷汗。三月份艾立克?胡爾德總檢查長表示，司法部將在處理此類案件時，不僅對公司，也會對當事人追查到底。例如，他們可能被禁與政府公共健康計劃有關的所有業務。在一個健康支出占經濟收入18%的國家，這可能會終結一些具有可觀報酬的職業。

　　Johnson

　　強生公司

　　Out of the mire?

　　走出困境了嗎?

　　The Justice Department may spoil the drugmaker sfresh start.

　　司法部可能會毀了這家藥廠的新開始。

　　FOR the past few years Johnson Johnson has stumbled clumsily through thelegal and reputational swamps of contaminated pills and faulty fake hips. Under a newchief executive, it is supposed to be taking a confident stride onto firmer terrain. On April26th Alex Gorsky, a senior manager who joined the company as a salesman in 1988, wasdue to take charge. Yet the ground is still worryingly soft. America s Justice Departmentwants Mr Gorsky to testify about alleged fraud. J J says he has nothing to do with thecase.

　　過去幾年，強生官司不斷，毒藥丸、假臀缺陷等丑聞頻出，公司步履艱難。在新掌門的領導下，公司有望重拾信心，大踏步向更高的目標邁進。4月26日，1988年就進入強生從事銷售工作的公司高管亞歷克斯?高斯基走馬上任。但令人擔憂的是，公司境遇依然艱難。美國司法部想要高斯基先生為公司的欺詐指控作證。強生方面表示，高斯基先生與該案無關。

　　The government s request, made on April 11th, is the latest stage of a long dispute. Thedepartment s lawyers filed their suit in 2010, alleging that J J made improperpayments to boost prescriptions of its drugs. J J can at least take solace in not beingalone. The Justice Department has sued almost every big drug firm.

　　政府4月11日作出的請求不過是這場長期糾紛的最新進展。司法部律師于2010年提請訴訟，他們宣稱，強生為了推銷他們的藥方進行了非正常的支付。令強生公司得到慰藉是至少它不是孤軍奮戰 ，幾乎所有的大藥廠都受到過司法部的指控。

　　Most suits are brought under the False Claims Act, which since 1986 has encouraged citizensto sue firms that defraud the government. Whistleblowers are fortified not only byrighteousness but also by a share of damages. They and the department have forged amodel public-private partnership. Since 1986 the team has won more than $30 billion.

　　大多數訴訟的依據是1986年生效的《虛假申報法案》，該法案鼓勵公民對那些欺騙政府的公司進行起訴。一些人踴躍揭露黑幕，一是出自正義，二是可以獲得一份賠償。他們和司法部共同打造了一個公私合伙的典范，1986年以來，這支隊伍的收入超過了300億美元。

　　Billions have been wrung out of drugmakers. The firms have been charged with marketingdrugs for unapproved uses, paying illegal kickbacks to raise sales, or both, cheating thepublic-health programmes that foot the bill. In the last quarter of 2011 Abbott said it hadreserved $1.5 billion to pay penalties for its marketing practices, Amgen said it hadreserved $780m for a similar purpose, and GlaxoSmithKline announced a staggering $3billion agreement with the department.

　　制藥廠被迫繳納數十億美元，他們被處罰的理由是未經批準銷售藥物，為擴大銷售支付回扣，或者二者兼而有之，有的公司對支付患者醫藥費用的全民醫療保險項目進行欺瞞。2011年最后一季度，雅培表示，他們已為公司的營銷行為準備了15億美元的罰款。安進表示為同樣的目的他們也保留了7.8億美元，葛蘭素史克宣布他們們與司法部之間達成了一個金額高達30億美元的協議。

　　The department says that J J s questionable antics took place between 1999 and2004. It alleges that the company used rebates, grants and other kickbacks to encourageOmnicare, a pharmacy for nursing homes, to recommend its drugs to patients. Prosecutorssay that J J continued to push sales of a drug even after warnings that it had not beenproperly studied in old people. On April 11th the government s lawyers asked a judge tocompel Mr Gorsky, who oversaw the implicated business at the time, to testify. If the judgeagrees, J J may find a settlement attractive.

　　司法部表示，強生的不軌行為發生在1999年至2004年間，他們稱，強生使用返利、補貼等回扣方式鼓勵一家專供養老院的藥店Omnicare向患者推薦他們的藥品。檢查官說，在被告知尚不明確這些藥物是否適用老年人的情況下，強生依然我行我素，繼續推銷他們的藥品。4月11日，政府律師要求法官迫使當時負責相關業務的高斯基先生出庭作證。如果法官同意，強生可能會更希望庭外和解。

　　Such a deal would not be the last. Settlements show no sign of abating, for two main reasons.First, whatever the merits of the case against J J, it is not clear that companies arechanging their ways. The benefits of aggressive marketing often outweigh the cost ofsettlements. Aaron Kesselheim of Harvard University tracked sales of Neurontin, a drugapproved for epilepsy but prescribed for much more. By 2004, when Pfizer paid $430m inpenalties, annual sales had reached $2.7 billion.

　　這樣的交易不會是最后一筆，問題的解決并不表明這種情況有所減少，這有兩個主要原因，第一，不管這起針對強生的案件價值幾何，我們都弄不清楚這些公司是否已改邪歸正。積極的營銷帶來的利益常常超過解決爭端的成本，哈佛大學的阿倫?凱澤爾海姆對批準為治療癲癇、實際上用途更廣的處方藥鎮頑癲進行了跟蹤后發現，到2004年，輝瑞支付的罰款為4.3億美元，而這種藥每年銷售已達27億美元。

　　Second, there is ample appetite to sue. Barack Obama s health-care law included newmeasures to fight fraud. For every $1 spent in such cases, the Justice Department boasts itgets $7 in return. Whistleblowers keep coming forward: last year they tooted in recordnumbers. And states are getting fiercer: a judge in Arkansas recently ordered J J to pay$1.1 billion for violating the state s version of the False Claims Act.

　　第二，上訴者往往會獅子大開口且樂此不彼，奧巴馬的保健法為打擊欺詐增添了新的內容。在類似案例中，每支出一美元，司法部就會得到7美元的回報。報料揭丑者前赴后繼：去年，他們戰果空前。各州也愈加猛烈，最近，因違反州頒發的《虛假申報法案》，阿肯色州的一位法官要求強生支付11億美元。

　　Drug executives may find one penalty especially scary. In March Eric Holder, the attorney-general, said the Justice Department would go after people as well as companies. Forexample, they might be banned from business with any government health-care programme.In a country where spending on health is nearly 18% of the economy, that could finish someamply remunerated careers.

　　不過有一項處罰條款會讓制藥公司的老總們嚇出一身冷汗。三月份艾立克?胡爾德總檢查長表示，司法部將在處理此類案件時，不僅對公司，也會對當事人追查到底。例如，他們可能被禁與政府公共健康計劃有關的所有業務。在一個健康支出占經濟收入18%的國家，這可能會終結一些具有可觀報酬的職業。