The Intercept: Pfizer Sought to Block Law Protecting Whistleblowers
2 Min Read
The Intercept reveals that Pfizer, along with other pharmaceutical companies, is fighting a Senate bill that protects whistleblowers who expose companys' illegal activities.
-
Whistleblowers said Pfizer promoted the Bextra drug for uses not approved by the FDA.
Large pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, are lobbying to block legislation that protects whistleblowers when exposing companys' fraud, reported The Intercept.
The companies are seeking to fail an update to the False Claims Act, a law that awards whistleblowers for lawsuits against contractors that have business with the US government that has historically benefitted from $67 billion from the law, as whistleblowers helped expose illegal activities by contractors, according to The Intercept.
In 2009, thanks to six whistleblowers, Pfizer was fined $2.3 billion to settle allegations of illegally marketing several drugs not approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
The case was considered as "one of the largest health care fraud settlements in history," said The Intercept.
However, the law was manipulated by some federal court decisions. In 2016, the Supreme Court ruled that fraud lawsuits can be dropped if the government is still paying the contracting company.
In recent days, Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa proposed updating "the law in order to give whistleblowers greater protection against potential industry retaliation and make it more difficult for companies charged with fraud to dismiss cases on procedural grounds," reported The Intercept.
The update also aims to prevent industries from blacklisting whistleblowers looking for employment.
The website mentioned that Grassley, in a Senate session, highlighted "multibillion Afghanistan War contracts and examples of fraud cases that have escaped accountability because of the judicial constraints placed on the False Claims Act."
“In my many years of investigating the Department of Defense, it has taught me that a Pentagon bureaucrat is rarely motivated to recognize fraud. That’s because the money doesn’t come out of their pocket.”
Grassley's bill was blocked and did not reach the floor for a vote due to Democrat objections.
The Intercept pointed out that whistleblowers said Pfizer promoted the Bextra drug "for uses that were not approved by the FDA, placing patients at risk for heart attack and stroke."
“The whole culture of Pfizer is driven by sales, and if you didn’t sell drugs illegally, you were not seen as a team player,” revealed John Kopchinski, one of the whistleblowers.
