January 21, 2009

Former Zyprexa Rep Reveals Why He Blew The Whistle On Lilly

One of the interesting stories to come out of last week's record $1.42 billion settlement (and subsequent guilty plea to one criminal charge) between Lilly and the feds and about 30 states over claims Zyprexa was illegally marketed comes from Robert Rudolph, a Lilly sales rep who was one of several reps to blow the whistle on his own company.

"Why, he asked management, was the Indianapolis pharmaceutical company marketing its antipsychotic drug Zyprexa to elderly people when the drug was not approved for that group?

"Why had the company violated privacy rules by culling patient lists at doctors' offices?

"Why was the company counting drug samples as sales, which would boost the stock price?

"He went on for about 10 minutes during a sales meeting in 2002. The other 25 Lilly sales representatives stared at him, stunned.

"'I'd just been wrestling with this stuff for so long,' he said in a telephone interview today. 'I was put in a position of breaking the law, in my view, or quitting....'

"He warned management of his concerns. Their response: 'You're not a team player.'

"He began talking to other sales representatives about the issue, including Hector Rosado, another whistle-blower in the case.

"As he pondered what to do, Rudolph's son, then 15, provided a moment of clarity:

"'He came up to me and said, "Dad, what's wrong is wrong." I had taught my kids that. It was wrong, and I wanted to make it right.'"

Good for Rudolph and his son. Rudolph and eight other Lilly whistleblowers will split from $78 million to $100 million of the settlement.

Posted by Philip Dawdy at January 21, 2009 12:03 AM
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Comments

We get vindicated as a Zyprexa victim advocate I have watched this all evolve since 2005.

Wonderful!

Posted by: Daniel Haszard at January 20, 2009 11:44 PM

that's a lot of money.

Posted by: Stephany at January 21, 2009 03:47 AM

Nice to know that there are some out there with a soul.

Posted by: Dano MacNamarrah at January 21, 2009 09:34 AM

What Rudolph said occured is very typical. I admire his bravery and stance. To speak up in front of your peers and manager to state the truth in such a way? Those like him are rare.

When the truth is spoken in such a way to others who choose to be silent, it is the loudest words ever heard. He breached groupthink, and knew the consequences of doing so.

Posted by: Dan at January 23, 2009 03:18 PM

Has anything ever come out about Lamictal being marketed for bipolar before it was approved?

I wonder why doctor's decide to prescribe drugs for unapproved indications. Where does the idea come from? It doesn't make sense.

Posted by: Becky at January 24, 2009 01:01 PM
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