Last week, three key managers in Pfizer’s HIV marketing division departed amid an internal investigation into allegations of improper promotion of two meds - maraviroc, which was approved only today, and the aging Viracept. The probe into the use of unapproved materials and CME funding began when a Pfizer sales rep complained within the company and, after hitting roadblocks, provided documents that we subsequently reported. This morning, we asked the sales rep, who has been granted anonymity while a potential lawsuit is explored, to look back on the events and reflect on the outcome. Here’s an excerpt of our discussion…

Pharmalot: What prompted you to report a problem in the first place?
Sales Rep: I thought what I saw happening was wrong. I didn’t see any gray areas. And it was scary, because I didn’t see any sign that it was just going to go away. But it turned out it was more common than I first thought. So I went to a senior rep, asked for advice, and was told to go to my manager. I read all the Pfizer manuals. And I went to my manager. I also told her I knew she was involved in some of it. Two weeks later, we’re at a Dunkin’ Donuts and I asked how things were going to proceed. She said that, a result of my complaint, a professional science liasion was gone and so it’s a dead issue. We need to move on. But that didn’t comfort me. I needed it resolved because these activities occurred with some of my physician/customers. I still felt vulnerable. The same people directing the activities were in place.

Pharmalot: Some of this sounds like ‘inside baseball.’ Why should anyone care about all this?
Sales Rep: This is about drugs, and people’s lives, not sneakers or used cars. You’re supposed to follow certain rules, and you don’t want to give the impression a drug is something that it’s not. If you end up allowing anybody to say anything they want, at anytime, about any drug, that’s not a good way to do business, and clearly not a good way to sell medication. If we’re going to tell somebody something about a medicine, we should follow the rules in place.

Pharmalot: You previously indicated there was retaliation. How did that play out?
Sales Rep: At first, I got the silent treatment. We live and die by voicemail and I no longer got any. That meant I missed being involved in group activities and didn’t know general communications…Last January, I had a vacation scheduled. I wrote a couple of times to confirm this and got no reply. A week before a scheduled meeting, which I knew nothing about, I was suddenly told I had to cancel my vacation because of the meeting. So I lost a couple of thousand dollars. I never had to cancel a vacation before. But everyone else knew about the meeting.

I was becoming irrelevant and the whole (HIV sales) team looked at me that way because they were wondering why I wasn’t participating in certain activities. They thought I was being negative. So she accomplished her goal. And then, on my performance review, I was told I was marked as ‘below expectations’ as a team player. That was the death knell. Later, they shut off my e-mail.

Pharmalot: So what was your next step?
Sales Rep: Well, I hired a lawyer and wrote HR asking for a severance package. I thought they were going to fire me. I hired a lawyer so I wouldn’t be denied unemployment benefits. But they eventually told me that I was free to leave whenever I wanted, and they didn’t find it necessary to offer a package. I saw it as an HR issue. Instead, they dragged their feet and I had to turn to your blog and Peter Rost’s blog to get Pfizer to take care of their own business. But it created all this turmoil, and turned it into a full-blown investigation and legal battle. It was never meant to escalate, though.

Pharmalot: What do you make of the departures last week?
Sales Rep: It’s an admission there was wrongdoing and, in my mind, a certain validation. It also shows the company eventually did some due diligence. I don’t think the company wanted something like this to take place. But that begs the questions why they allowed it occur in the first place. But I’ve learned the answer, which is that nobody wants to be iced out, or be made irrelevant, or lose a lot of money. So people don’t say anything. And these things are allowed to continue. That’s what was bet on. You do these things because the alternatives aren’t pleasant, and that’s why it’s hard for Pfizer to get to the bottom of it. Because people are scared they’ll be next.

Pharmalot: What would you tell others who find themselves in a similar situation?
Sales Rep: I’d probably tell them to speak up. But no, that’d be bad advice. I’d tell people to be quiet, or hire a lawyer. Don’t go through the company’s compliance department. You need to seek legal advice before you do anything. As you’ve heard me say, these things get really complicated.