P.M. BRIEFING : Guilty Pleas Entered in FDA Payoffs
A Food and Drug Administration chemist and an executive of a Denver drug company have pleaded guilty to criminal charges filed in connection with an FDA payoff scandal, government prosecutors said today.
Prosecutors said FDA chemist David Brancato, 38, pleaded guilty to three counts of receiving illegal gratuities. Raj Matkari, 48, a vice president of Pharmaceutical Basics Inc., pleaded guilty to a count of giving an illegal gratuity.
When sentenced, Brancato faces up to six years in prison and $750,000 in fines. Matkari faces up to two years and a $250,000 fine.
A Baltimore grand jury and a congressional subcommittee have been investigating alleged payoffs and favoritism at the FDA’s Generic Drugs Division for the last 10 months. Several generic drug companies told the House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee last week that division officials were arbitrary and unfair in their review of applications to market generic drugs, or lower-priced versions of expensive, name-brand drugs that have lost their patents.
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