DR. DREW PINSKY, "Celebrity Rehab" kingpin allegedly received kickbacks from major drug companies to push bad news anti-depressant drug Wellburtin on his shows, feds claim.
Dr. Drew is now facing allegations that he accepted $275,000 to promo controiversial drug Wellbutrin SR while hosting his radio and TV show "Loveline".
The shocking revelations emerged during the Department of Justice’s case against drug company GlaxoSmithKline, which has now agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor criminal charges for comiiting healthcqare fraud.
The drug giant will pay out $3 billion in settlements – the biggest payout in U>S> history.
According to the legal docs, Pinsky reportedly accepted a six-figure sum over the course of two months in 1999 for talking up the joy of antidepressant wonder-drug “in settings where it did not appear that [he] was speaking for GSK,” the Justice Department charged.
Pinsky, who later would host “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew" and "Sober House" said Wellbutrin SR offered an ability to “increase libido” in depressed patients.
Most anti-depressants generally cause of a lack of sexual desire in those patients taking the drugs.
GSK did not have FDA approval to promote its drug as having fewer sexual side-effects.
A PR firm told feds Pinsky had “communicated key campaign messages” to his audience, when he talked up the sexy benefits of the drug.
Pinsky’s reps nor legal counsel have yet to respond to the Justice Department charges.
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