Prescription drug manufacturers are responsible for proper development of their products and the marketing and labeling it presents to the public. If there is a chance that their drug is defective, it can result in a recall and, ultimately, harm to patients.

The World Health Organization (WHO) identifies a conflict of interest between the medical needs of the public and their providers and the business goals of manufacturers, due to the fact that drug companies are the primary source of information for which products are most effective. According to WHO, pharmaceutical companies spend nearly twice of their revenue on marketing than on research and development.

However, revenues for some companies have recently decreased partly due to sales of generic competition. Pfizer's billion-dollar company hit a decline in 2013 in sales dropping to $2.3 billion from $3.9 billion in 2012 and $9.6 billion in 2011.

Boston Scientific (BSX) recently announced that it received a subpoena on May 5 from the Department of Health and Human Services. The subpoena asked the company for information about the performance of its implanted defibrillators. Defibrillator devices are used to shock racing hearts back into a normal rhythm during cardiac emergencies, some of which may injure patients.

The subpoena requested information from 2008, when Boston Scientific released two different types of implanted cardiac defibrillators. The documents also asked for information regarding the performance of these two devices when used between 2007 to 2009. The defibrillators are sold using the names Teligen and Cognis and are implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) and cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators (CRT-Ds).

The Office of the Inspector General from the Department of Health and Human Services issued the subpoena. The office's duties include investigating waste and fraud in health programs of the government, including Medicaid and Medicare.

The United States Department of Justice has announced that global health care company Johnson & Johnson will pay more than $2.2 billion in criminal and civil fees in a defective medications lawsuit alleging that the company marketed medications to improper audiences from 1999 to 2005. The judgment represents the third-largest health care fraud settlement in United States history.

Johnson & Johnson reportedly illegally marketed the antipsychotic drug Risperdal to older adults with dementia, people with developmental disabilities, and children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. They claimed that the medication could address symptoms in these patients such as agitation, confusion, impulsiveness and hostility.

According to the The New York Times, the company had repeatedly tried to expand the legal market for Risperdal into these markets soon after the drug was approved in 1993, but the Federal Drug Administration rejected their efforts. In fact, they government regulator only approved the medication for the treatment of psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia. In spite of this, the company actively pursued the market for these patients.

According to a recent article, a very long, complicated scheme centered in Chicago but that included a murder in Mexico City ended Tuesday with three defendants facing mandatory life sentences.

This entire operation was based in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood. The scheme lasted for at least 15 years until it was broken up in 2007. In total, it generated somewhere around $3 million in annual sales of fake Social Security cards, driver's licenses, and various other documents.

Jurors determined Tuesday that Julio Leija-Sanchez, his brother Manuel Leija-Sanchez, and Gerardo Salazer-Rodrigues would all get mandatory life sentences for racketeering conspiracy because of the fact that it involved murder. This occurred one of the last stages of a six-week trial.