Another giant gets spanked.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), one of America’s largest drug makers, has agreed to a  $3 Billion drug fraud settlement for questionable sales and marketing practices, including their diabetes drug Avandia.

The $3 Billion settlement represents the largest ever drug-company settlement, surpassing the more than $2 Billion paid by drug maker Pfizer for illegally promoting off-label uses of four of its drugs.

The settlement, considered extraordinarily large by most people’s standards, represents only a slap on the wrist to the drug giant, which has a market value of more than $110 billion, according to the New York Times.

GSK’s massive financial clout allows them to engage in criminal behavior that they can later buy their way out of – kind of like the way you might pay for a speeding ticket.

Read more at Mini Pharmacy’s Diabetes Supplies blog.