$3 Billion… and the Stock Price Went Up When GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) paid a record $3 billion to settle violations of the False Claims Act including concealing data about fatal cardiovascular risks linked to its diabetes drug Avandia you might expect outrage. Or at least financial consequences. Instead? The company’s stock price rose to near a 52-week high. Investors understood something sobering: Even billion-dollar fines are simply absorbed as a cost of doing business. The Numbers Tell a Disturbing Story According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the pharmaceutical industry is the largest defrauder of the federal government under the False Claims Act measured by total settlement amounts. Consumer advocacy group Public Citizen tracked the escalation: 1991–2010: Nearly $20 billion in fines Nov 2010–mid 2012: $10 billion more First half of 2012 alone: $6.6 billion Fines aren’t slowing misconduct. They’re scaling alongside profits. When penal…