BIG PHARMA: "El enemigo esta adentro..."

If rising costs and demanding regulators aren't enough to torment pharmaceutical executives, here's one more thing to worry about:

Some of your employees might be wearing a wire. And collecting documents and voice mails. And looking for a lawyer who can help them blow the whistle on what they consider your dirtiest secrets.

This year, the pharmaceutical industry is caught in a wave of whistle-blower* cases, as employees help the government shine a bright light on what they consider fraudulent behavior.

El "Ciudadano Kopchinski" y sus consecuencias...o del "todos por la pasta"...

.../...

In January, Eli Lilly and Co. agreed to pay $1.4 billion to settle charges it illegally promoted its antipsychotic drug, Zyprexa, for unapproved uses. Nine whistle-blowers, former Lilly employees, split about $100 million of the settlement as their reward.

In September, Pfizer said it would pay $2.3 billion to settle charges that it illegally promoted numerous drugs, including the painkiller Bextra. Six whistle-blowers split about $102 million.

In October, AstraZeneca reached a $520 million agreement to settle investigations into illegal marketing of its psychiatric drug, Seroquel. Several whistle-blowers will split an undisclosed amount of money.

And last week, in a courtroom in Trenton, N.J., the latest case began, as a former sales worker at Janssen (owned by Johnson & Johnson) testified she was fired in 2004 for complaining about what she considered pressure to illegally promote the antipsychotic drug Risperdal for unapproved uses.

Meanwhile, more than 1,000 active whistle-blower cases are backlogged at the Department of Justice, and about 200 of them deal with drug companies. (Ver...)

Artículo completo...


Definitivamente..."el enemigo esta dentro...disparad sobre nosotros". Toda mi adolescencia transcurrió en el Colegio de la Inmaculada de los PP. Jesuitas (Gijón/Asturias) . Lugar de "autos"...Cuartel de Simancas



Aviso para navegantes:
(*) whistle blower Sustantivo

Plural: whistle blowers

persona que saca a luz pública la existencia de prácticas ilegales o peligrosas de su conocimiento, denunciante;