Drug Company Targeted for Illegal Marketing of Celexa and Lexapro

A complaint against a New York pharmaceutical company was unsealed last Wednesday for allegedly marketing the drugs Celexa and Lexapro for unapproved pediatric use and for paying doctors to prescribe the drug through illegal kickbacks. Forest Laboratories Inc. is charged with influencing doctors with cash payments disguised as grants. The company was prohibited from promoting the drugs for pediatric use by the FDA, which found neither drug to be effective and possibly dangerous in a double-blind, placebo-controlled pediatric trial.