Lilly Litigation Begs the Question - Should Whistleblower Employees Profit?

In news that was anticipated since Lilly (LLY) disclosed in October that it was setting aside litigation funds, the drug giant reached a settlement with the US Attorney's office in Philadelphia for $1.4 Billion for allegedly marketing the antipsychotic Zyprexa to patients who didn't need it.

This case was brought under the federal whistle-blower laws by company employees. So far, outlets are mum on just who the whistleblowers are and whether they stand to profit from their whistleblowing activities. However, this reminds me of some other prior whistleblower suits where employees were awarded with enormous sums for going to the Feds with company wrongdoing.

Whistleblowing: A lucrative option

Employees can make up to 30% of the total award in a federal whistleblower case. Take this example from TAP Pharmaceuticals. In 2002, $885 million in damages were recovered under the false claim act. Whistleblowers received $160 million of the of that settlement. And the largest such award in history, $126 million, went to a single individual, Douglas Durand, a former executive at TAP Pharmaceuticals who first highlighted how TAP conspired with doctors to overbill government insurers for Lupron, a prostate cancer drug. A second whistle-blower lawsuit against TAP, filed by Dr. Joseph Gerstein and Tufts Health Plan, yielded a $17 million settlement.

I understand if an employee feels that they will have trouble working in their field again or face professional repercussions as a result of their morale stand. They may never work again in their desired field. This may amount to a few million dollars over the remainder of a career for a typical employee. But how much is too much?

What do you think?

Should there be a cap on awards to whistleblowers? Should people be getting rich for simply doing the right thing?

Comments

[merlynp:]

If whistleblowers did not come forward, it would be impossible to uncover even a small amount of fraud, and in this case, abuse.

Whistleblowers could not come forward if they were not awarded for their efforts, as they almost immediately are forced out of the company; they are exposed to their industry and other corporations, and made to be unemployable.

Wouldn't it have been nice if some whistleblower had targeted the mortgage industry, or the banking industry? Would we be in the mess we are in now?

These people have saved lives! More power to them.

If your company is doing bad things to people, roll over on them; but, make certain you have lots of documentation; and, be prepared to be hounded out of your company, your city, and life, as you presently know it.

Jan 16 09:35 AM

[nova:]

There are very strong incentives to "manufacture" wrong-goings just to get money. It is another good lawyers income avenue.

Presently it is patients, customers, corporations, and shareholders are punished for crimes committed by Sr management and Board of Directors members.

If the purpose to protect public, the better way will be indeed reasonable reward whistleblowers but, even post important, it is to make corporate leaders personally financially responsible for their crimes.

Jan 16 09:36 AM

[quiact:]

How can one ask such an absurd question?

Atypical Psychotics And Unsealed Documents


Not long ago, I got the joy and despair of viewing many documents that were initially not to be seen, by order of the Department of Justice, yet found their way on various locations on the internet- specifically, the website: furiousseasons.com. The documents are, or were, in fact, evidence against Eli Lilly entirely representing their decade of deception promoting and over-medicating others with their drug called Zyprexa, which is in a class of medications called atypical anti-psychotics. While a new a new molecular entity by definition, this new class called atypical antipsychotics in fact is chemically similar to the older and typical anti-psychotics that exist, such as Haldol. In many ways, the older antipsychotics are safer as well as being similar in efficacy compared with the atypicals such as Zyprexa. Perhaps this is why Eli Lilly did the things they did because they knew Zyprexa caused perhaps more harm than good for those who took the medication. Of the several available atypical anti-psychotics now available, Zyprexa and Clozaril, which was the first atypical anti-psychotic, are believed to have the most toxic adverse events to those who take these two in particular.

Launched in 1996, Eli Lilly did not appear to consider any adverse effects that may occur to those who take this drug, yet it is believed that there was reason to believe that there should be caution regarding its use. With the belief that the maker of Zyprexa is and will be exonerated from any responsibility related to Zyprexa, many surmise that Eli Lilly was pleased that others were taking Zyprexa , and was confident that they would be exonerated from any responsibility from the adverse effects of the drug.

At the time Zyprexa was granted approval for marketing, the medication was indicated only for schizophrenia and mania that exists in those with bipolar disorder. Schizophrenia has been defined as a disease that causes the sufferer to deviate from true reality, along with visual and auditory hallucinations. Bipolar disorder is another mental disorder where the victim alternates from states of heightened neurokinetics to periods of what can be brutal depression for the sufferer.

Eli Lilly, known in recent years for their focus on marketing over science or research, greatly desired and hoped that Zyprexa would be a welcome blockbuster, which is a medication that exceeds a billion dollars a year in sales as a minimum. Likely because of this state of greed of Eli Lilly, they did not consider or evaluate any possible damage this flagship drug may cause others. And Eli Lilly appeared to have the obedient and manipulated sales force presumed to be a necessity for this monetary goal to occur without interference.

Pharmaceutical representatives overall are attractive and young individuals with little if any medical knowledge or training, but are determined to have charming personalities along with a perception of obedience, and this is all Eli Lilly in particular wanted from the members of their sales force. The sales vocation is normally associated to contain members with a high affinity for money, so corruptive acts such as off label promotion or overt kickbacks is not typically a consideration of such people, overall, as history has shown. Therefore, if Eli Lilly’s sales representatives who happen to be instructed to sell Zyprexa for dementia or depression, the orders will likely be followed. Or if this sales force is instructed to pay specifically targeted doctors large amounts of money for doing little or no work for this money given to such doctors, it still is not a problem for the sales force to maintain their obedience to their corporate God.

A few years after Eli Lilly launched Zyprexa, they appeared anxious due to their obvious disappointment regarding the initial prediction that was speculated about the growth of this drug that was not meeting their expectations, so they had meetings throughout the nation, known as ‘plan of action’ meetings, and concluded afterwards that there is great benefit from a monetary paradigm of implementing ‘seeding trials’, as they are a mechanism for generating needed, although fabricated data void of any scientific gain of knowledge. This amazingly was done and implemented afterwards rather overtly. Even more unbelievable is that around this time, the Zyprexa sales force was instructed by Eli Lilly management to seek out clinical trial sites, along with investigators for these trials. One voiced stipulation was that the investigators had to either be Eli Lilly prescribing supporters or high volume prescribers. This protocol described was written internally, along with the etiology for performing these sham clinical trials. Anything in writing can be golden, from an illegal situation such as this.

In addition to the clinical trial plan of action, Eli Lilly instructed its sales force to utilize inaccurate promotional material that Eli Lilly gave its Zyprexa reps without exception, even though this material was false and misleading, which was the intent of Eli Lilly, according to others, along with this material being greatly unbalanced and suggested uses for Zyprexa that were not indicated if not unproven, which can and has been harmful to patients because of this. To further saturate and corrupt the Zyprexa sales force, they were coerced to blunt assertively what are at this time widely recognized adverse effects of this medication, such as massive weight gain, along with glucose and lipid abnormalities- all of which are dangerous to the user of this medication.

The corrosive promotion of Zyprexa by Eli Lilly continued as the dangerous company intentionally altered certain Zyprexa articles by rewriting them, followed by being reviewed internally after this art work. The purpose was to stimulate what Eli Lilly believed was clearly absent, which was much needed commercial interest related to Zyprexa.

Then it came time to essentially buy benign support groups in hopes that this would improve the growth of Zyprexa. One example is that Eli Lilly paid the American Diabetes Association for their assistance in obtaining endocrinologist consultants, which is a medical specialty that treats, among other things, diabetes. To reduce any possibility of an unexpected contingency doing this, they went ahead and hired a good sized team of diabetes educators. In 1999, Eli Lilly altered a Zyprexa report that originally illustrated the glucose problem with the medication, and did so with deliberate intent and reckless disregard for others. Eventually, the American Diabetes Association became quite the critic of Eli Lilly because of their harmful behavior regarding Zyprexa.

Amazing alliances between Eli Lilly and the Bush administration have existed as well. George H.W. Bush became an Eli Lilly director after leaving the CIA and lobbied to infect third world countries with Lilly medications. He also did his best to maximize tax breaks further for this industry that now employs both himself and his political affiliation. In fact, many members of this administration have some connection with Eli Lilly. It seems to be a revolving door issue once again. One could speculate that the Zyprexa campaign continued for so long because of the relationships the maker of the drug had and has with other powerful people.

The next psychotic tactic Eli Lilly created was an advisory board paid well by this company to focus on the progressing concerns of Zyprexa. This tactic did work briefly, but did not change the view of the drug by the medical community in any way, or the maker of this drug.

It is at this point that the medical community began to get vexed and irritated by Eli Lilly’s deceptive and overtly destructive tactics, which included the company’s own speakers that were utilized in the past. This event of Eli Lilly being ostracized was because of their disregard for those they are obligated to serve in the medical community. Perhaps most disturbing was the company’s intentional holding of crucial safety information related to Zyprexa even before the drug was even approved. For example, Eli Lilly’s Zyprexa representatives were instructed without doubt to neutralize the legitimate concerns doctors may have about Zyprexa, if not outright fear regarding this deadly drug they now perceived as being a clear reality. The representatives were in agreement of continuing to dodge or neutralize legitimate concerns about Zyprexa, with the promise of Eli Lilly’s management team to fill their wallets more if they maintain obedience regarding this directive that caused harm in the form of such physiological disorders as metabolic syndrome associated with Zyprexa, yet the sales force still denied the association due to the insistence of their employer. Essentially, the Zyprexa representatives with Eli Lilly were trained, perhaps aggressively, to disarm negative perceptions about Zyprexa, even though these perceptions continuously proved to be valid. This deeply troubled many Zyprexa representatives, as at this point they were aware of the dangers of the drug they were promoting in order to maintain employment.

Also, and of no great surprise, off label promotion with Zyprexa was a norm within the organization and certainly encouraged by Eli Lilly management. Encouraging doctors to prescribe Zyprexa for depression is one example. Amazingly, reflecting back on the behavioral flaws by Eli Lilly for quite some time, they did not alter their method of business even though there was a strong perception regarding this company being both aggressive and greedy, and likely criminal in the way they chose to conduct their business. And depression was not the only off label claim with Zyprexa. Eli Lilly considered such criminal acts as off label promotion as ‘redefining the market’. This is yet another example of their absurdity.

In the year 2000, Eli Lilly greatly expanded what was called their long term care sales force to expand Zyprexa intake in the elderly. This, as a reminder, is deadly- as Zyprexa is harmful to older citizens- specifically pneumonia and eventual premature death result from Zyprexa intake. At the same time, Eli Lilly developed a strategy to neutralize the obvious weight gain associated with Zyprexa with other patient populations. Does the whole corporation believe U.S. citizens are without thought or intelligence?
Yet in 2002, Eli Lilly was having financial disappointments, which again did not shock many. So to stay in form, they went on a mission to develop speakers to align with them and to not educate others, but to pacify other doctors in hopes that their problems with Zyprexa would disappear. After the speaker episode, Eli Lilly had the audacity to claim that Zyprexa was indeed the best in the class of atypical antipsychotics. Such a statement appears psychotic, to say the least. And now the market for atypicals is about 5 billion a year, so there seemed to be no end as to what Eli Lilly might try next. Also in this year our FDA called Eli Lilly ‘a sponsor’. I find that a bit disturbing. As disturbing as the covert meetings Eli Lilly had with the FDA as well. Well, if you are going to have a friend,that is the right one. Eli Lilly also bribed select reporters to speak or annotate favorably about Zyprexa, and they did.

As the new millennium progressed over a few years, lawsuits became a concern for Eli Lilly regarding Zyprexa. Doing what any responsible corporate entity would most certainly do, the upper management of Eli Lilly had the audacity to blame the media for the way they handled their patients. Around this time, Eli Lilly needed and did hire a public relations firm because of their image crisis. About the same time, Eli Lilly implemented a nationwide program entitled, “Operation: restore confidence”. I’m not sure how a fully rational and conscious group of Eli Lilly people could create something so ridiculous and unrealistic. Equally deviating from reality of Eli Lilly’s behavior is that they actually thought they could increase Zyprexa growth by hammering home astronomical efficacy with the drug which, of course, does not outweigh the damage of the drug to the patient who takes it.

Another failure illustrated above caused Eli Lilly to hire a group called Lifeplan Marketing, who convinced the organization to create a brand new market establishing Zyprexa as the standard of care. This is yet another psychotic act by this Midwest group of manipulators, who were at one time a well respected pharmaceutical corporation. Humans do not forget- especially pain.

At least one human wanted to let everyone know he did not, nor will he ever forget his experience as a Zyprexa representative with Eli Lilly. His name is Shahram Ahari and he aligned with a non-profit advocacy group called Pharmedout, which was created due to a state settlement from another pharmaceutical company. He spends his days now making others aware of things such as what you have read. I’ve spoken with Shahram, and I admire his assistance with others trying to correct this medical mess.

Eli Lilly appears pathologically persistent in frightening ways. Next was a national implementation plan of action which focused on training the Zyprexa sales force to use what was called a J.C.P. study to emphasize the numerous off label benefits of Zyprexa. At the same time, Eli Lilly determined that primary care doctors should be their number one Zyprexa targets. With this new focus, the sales force for Zyprexa were somehow convinced to tell doctors that fatigue is really the only side effect that presents itself with Zyprexa use. Again, citizens are overall not catatonic about such actions.

While on this off label role with Zyprexa, they resurrected their long term care efforts by taking on Aricept, and Alzheimer’s drug, and encouraged others to switch to Zyprexa. The reaction for this misbehavior was Zyprexa being removed from Medicaid in 2004.
Allan Reier was the Zyprexa product team leader at the time. He may have developed the unbelievable strategy of visiting psychiatrists to assure them they will not be sued if they prescribe Zyprexa for their patients.

So, now we are at a point where Eli Lilly had a flash of reality and preferred no media contact. Gosh, what a surprise. There was also the disclosure of Eli Lilly creating if not funding deceptive front groups to screen others in order to sell more Zyprexa as well.

The other tactical plan from Eli Lilly was to re-implement blunting techniques regarding Zyprexa. My guess is that they dragged this into a week- long meeting. This of course included dodging concerns by doctors that they are normally encouraged to partner with, historically. Such tactical plans of action were associated with such clever names as, ‘Viva Zyprexa’, or Zyprexa Limitless”. Maybe the next one will be ‘Zyprexa Revenue Regression’.

Another tactic authorized by Eli Lilly was to use those bonafide contract research organizations (CROs) to manufacture safety, health, and outcomes database studies. A deceptive publication plan followed. CROs are commercial research organizations that include substandard research investigators and the sponsor of these clinical trials, Eli Lilly, has the ability to alter aspects of such trials for their own benefit. This was done as they still encouraged children to consume Zyprexa- near a million of them due to an arrangement that Zyprexa will be promoted by the ADD drug Strattera.
As stated earlier, previously sealed and damaging documents got exposed at the end of 2006, and are accessible on the internet and some websites, such as furiousseasons.com, which is what this article is based upon entirely.

Perhaps the documents should have been exposed immediately instead of being held from public view. Many facts that you have read in this article are from these authentic documents that are more disturbing than fiction. The information is accurate, and many others are finally informed instead of deceived or denied their right to know.

Eli Lilly makes over 4 billion dollars a year on Zyprexa.
Eli Lilly has had to pay well over a billion dollars for Zyprexa damage to others between 2006 and 2007.
Eli Lilly raised the price in Europe of Zyprexa by nearly 20 percent afterwards.

“Character is what a man is in the dark” --- Dwight Moody

Dan Abshear

Author’s note: What has been written is based upon information and belief..

Jan 16 10:07 AM

[whistle whi...:]

According to recent corporate studies, whistleblowers account for 43% of all corporate fraud that is detected, by far and away the most effective method of detecting fraud. Whistleblowers risk their entire careers and most of the cases do not involve recoveries of this size. The average whistleblower share in FCA cases is in the range of 17-20 per cent of the amount that the U.S. recovers in a false claims act case.

Jan 16 10:55 AM

[Geloo:]

Should people benefit from doing the right thing?!? Surely you are kidding!

How about - Should Pharma companies profit from doing illegal things?

Having been a whistleblower and gone through the emotional/ financial hell that doing the right thing involves - the reward should be doubled!

Why don't you try fighting a multi-billion dollar corporation and then tell me if rewards are out of line?

Whistleblowers are the unsung heros of todays society. Their simple existence is making companies think twice about ripping off the U.S. taxpayer. Without their assistance, these corporations would rape, pillage and plunder the public more than ever.

The next time your family member or friend goes to the doctor, ask yourself if you want that doctor making treatment decisions based on off-label or misleading information from a pharma marketing department campaign or truthful information provided by a company sales person afraid to mislead for a higher bonus, because their employer has been forced to be compliant.

Jan 16 01:23 PM

[User 338812:]

Lilly market cap went up 2.1 billion and counting since they settled. Feds are in bed with big Pharma...no real financial punishment, no jail time, nothing but years of letting them off the hook. The Relators should get everything, they are the only ones forcing investigations. DOJ prosecutes a couple cases, then the lead attorney goes to work for the company they just let off the hook. Long live the whistleblower, the real hero ....Federal attorneys want the glory with no real consequences to the drug company. Let one of these cases go to trial and see what happens, the jurors will hang the bastards and close the company.,...If I blow the whistle, and suffer for years, there will be a jury trial. Those of you out there in the middle of a current case, don't cave in to a settlement like this. Go all the way, you can do it. Put someone in jail and put the company out of business. Do not let the DOJ dictate anything, you filed the case... you end the case.

Jan 16 02:57 PM

[Daniel Haszard:]

( This, 'we are going pay out the $1.4 billion' is nearly 3 year old PR churned out from Lilly handlers)

Zyprexa Claims being Stonewalled.
Where is the money going as many victim claimants haven't been paid yet?

Something fishy going on here?
Daniel Haszard zyprexa-victims.com

Jan 16 03:08 PM

[donzelion:]

Goodness, some lengthy comments here from some angry folks.

I can't speak for LLY, but I do have a fair bit of experience representing big pharm in emerging markets, along with a fair share of other companies. Way I see it, big pharm is routinely among the MOST honorable and ethical sectors when operating abroad ("Constant Gardener" notwithstanding).

For most corporations, if they screw people, other people lose money. However, in biotech, there's far greater potential risks - screwing people won't just gouge them, but may well kill them.

For those industries, rewarding whistleblowers makes perfect sense. But I'd put some other limits in place as well - restrictions on pension funds, 401(k)s, and other items to ensure that employees are not primarily rewarded with stock options as the basis for their retirement - so that the people who suffer the most from wrongdoing are not the employees who had nothing to do with it.

Jan 16 03:11 PM

[notsosmart:]

whistleblowers should get every penny they can.if the phony self righteous execs didnt lie so much & do the wrong thing for the bottom line there would be no whistleblowers.not only should the whistleblowers get great rewards the execs shuld be fined & jailed.its about time the sheeples wake up & appreciate these people who are immediately accused of being bad employees.no co. or hospital should have to have & spend money on a risk management dept.anybody remember the pinto or the gm truck that put the gasoline on the side without protection & a young man burned to death?

Jan 16 04:39 PM

[Justice in ...:]

Agree with most of the above. Whistleblowing usually means kissing the rest of one's career good-bye. It also often results in divorce, lost friendships, and certainly lost connection with former colleagues. And the great majority of those who file FCA claims never have their case pursued - so they lose all the above, and end up with nothing.

Someone ready to take all those risks is deserving of reward, just like on the old WANTED posters.

Jan 16 10:29 PM

[Jade Queen:]

Individual settlements with harmed people usually include gags.

This means the whistleblower may be the only one standing against massive harm. It takes extraordinary courage to stand in such a place.

Universities could have been allies with truth, but many of them have been corrupted. The exploration of this is just beginning, with the exposure of Joseph Biederman at Harvard. This is another mess that it will take a long time to unravel.

Sen. Grassley is on the prowl for more exposures of this type. Few pharmaceutical companies may escape the coming deluge.

Ordinary people, with heightened skepticism about mainstream medicine, are exploring natural substances. Some universities are researching the biochemistry of exercise and other non-medication strategies.

Add to this supply and manufacturing challenges, and it is clear that change is in store for the pharmaceutical companies.

It seems a good time to get out of pharmaceuticals.

Jan 17 03:03 AM