Astra-Zeneca Scandal In The UK Press
2 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // April 21st, 2007 // 9:16 am
Round and round it goes, where it stops….who knows?
But the ‘Zube newsletter affair,’ as insiders call the accusations of illegal off-label marketing surrounding AstraZeneca, is gaining more notice. As Pharmalot pointed out yesterday, at least one congressman - Democrat Pete Stark, who chairs the House Ways and Means health subcommittee - wants to learn more. CNBC ran two segments on Thursday.
And now The Independent, one of the big UK dailies, ran a story, which is the first time the scandal has made the mainstream press on the other side of The Pond….
“The pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca is at the centre of a storm in the US after firing one of its sales directors for comments he made likening doctors’ offices to “a big bucket of money“.
Documents have surfaced on industry insider websites allegedly describing illegal drug marketing practices and AstraZeneca has since launched an investigation into the activities of several employees.
Mike Zubillaga, who was regional sales director for AstraZeneca’s Mid-Atlantic Business Center in Wayne, Pennsylvania, was quoted in a internal newsletter saying: “I see it like this: there is a big bucket of money sitting in every office. Every time you go, you reach your hand in the bucket and grab a handful. The more times you are in, the more money goes in your pocket. Every time you make a call, you are looking to make more money.”
Unfortunately for Mr Zubillaga, who was intending to motivate his sales staff to sell more cancer drugs, an industry blogger got hold of the newsletter from a whistleblower and published the comments, sparking an online debate about the ethics of drug companies.
Concern was raised after another comment from Mr Zubillaga in the same newsletter appeared to highlight a more serious issue. He allegedly appeared to be suggesting sales staff should counter-promote drugs, which is selling by comparing another company’s drug, a practice prohibited in the US….”
You can read the complete story here.
Hat tip to Question Authority.[tags]AstraZeneca, Mike Zubillaga[/tags]
Anon
The info was not supplied by a whistle blower. I have some respect for a whistle blower. It came as a personal attack by a disgruntled employee. It had no intent other than to cause Zubillaga pain, and embarrass the company.
A whistle blower outs themselves and stands by their word. This was not started by a whistle blower.
ed
Hi Anon,
Thanks for sharing. And I suppose there are different ways to define whistleblower. For all we know, the anonymous employee(s) has or have already identified themselves to the HHS OIG.
In any event, if you have anything concrete to share, please do.
Thanks
ed s