Customer Reviews

The Whistleblower: Confessions of a Healthcare Hitman

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Pfizer: Hypocrisy is Our Life's Work

As a Pfizer employee, I am extremely upset by the facts laid out in Dr. Rost's book 'The Whistleblower: Confessions of a Healthcare Hitman.' I had previously `drank the Pfizer blue kool-aid.' An example: Pfizer has a number of 'values' and 'leader behaviors' printed on expensive, colorful posters and on cardboard mobiles which hang throughout the hallways of it's skyscrapers and campus buildings. To think these values and leader behaviors are just for the little people--the rank and file worker--and that top Pfizer executives and management who strive to be promoted to the executive ranks are above ethical behavior will forever change how I view Pfizer. Pfizer's corporate tag line is "Life is our life's work." After reading Dr. Rost's book, they ought to scratch out the word `life' and add the word `hypocrisy' in there somewhere. If Dr. Rost's thrilling new book is true, I'm thoroughly disgusted by Pfizer's behavior towards honest employees.

This is a fascinating read, very credibly told. It is really a business thriller, especially for anyone familiar with the workings of large corporations, a sort of David and Goliath epic. I picked it up to read the first chapter and literally could not put it down for about the first 130 pages, cliché notwithstanding. It moves fast, develops characters nicely and retains suspense as the story expands. For a book about business it provide a lot of action in a way that gives you insight into the drug industry, the greed of large drug corporations and their CEOs, the behavior of people in large organizations, the role of government institutions, big legal & PR firms and the media - and it does all of this not only painlessly but also interestingly. Quite a ride!

I think the review below titled "Don't Take Him Seriously" was written by someone who either did not read the book or who is a shill for the drug industry; when I checked his two other reviews each give one star and panned books about "Big Pharma". So I would not give much credence to that review. You will love reading this book and learn something along the way. Peter Rost deserves praise for his courage, ability to tell a story and for providing a revealing look inside big drug corporations.

This book was a pleasant surprise. I expected an expose' of dangerous shortcuts in clinical trials and FDA submissions by the drug industry, but I found something else. An extremely entertaining (yet disturbing) story about how Pfizer -- one of the world's largest prescription drug manufacturers -- tried to stomp on an executive who first tried to right the wrongs of the company's marketing techniques, and failing that, tried to undermine that executive's efforts to disclose the problem to federal authorities (which by federal law he was required to do, or go to jail).

It all began when the company that Pfizer bought (Pharmacia) began marketing a drug for non-FDA-approved uses, which is highly illegal and could indeed kill people. And it may have, we just don't know. Rost's book is one of the few that, once I started reading, I couldn't put down until I finished it. A rarity for me. Thanks to all of the Peter Rosts of the world who put integrity above profit -- but to Pfizer, shame on you.

Dr. Rost knows what he's talking about and he knows about the ways in which whistleblowers - of any kind- but particularly those in the healthcare arena are treated and harassed by the companies they challenge. Although the majority of Dr. Rost's concerns center on tax and securities violations and drug importation, please keep in mind that there are many pharmaceutical whistleblowers out there who step up to the plate because they are concerned for people's lives - lives that are literally destroyed prematurely by deceptive marketing campaigns, the intentional and willful act of failing to provide critical information to both the public and prescribing physicians and the wide-spread "individual" acts of both district and territory managers within the pharmaceutical industry who encourage and/or require their employees to misinform physicians by illegally altering FDA approved materials, utilizing studies that don't apply to the subject medication or by simply bribing them with trips, speaking fees and expensive dinners.

Many of these whistleblowers not only lose their jobs and livelihood, but are harassed and stalked by private investigators. They are threatened by pharmaceutical companies' inhouse counsel. They are told, as Dr. Rost was, "You'll never work in this industry again." This book confirms the best and the worst in people who work in the pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Rost represents the best and some of his former co-workers, the worst. If you are thinking about blowing the whistle in order to save lives, to do the right thing, improve the lives of others - whatever your reason is - you should read this book first. Will it scare you? Yes. Will you think about backing out? Yes. Will your dear friends and co-workers lie in depositions to save their jobs? Yes. Will you be able to look in a mirror every day for the rest of your life? Yes. Will your children look up to you because you took a stand and did the right thing? I hope to God they will. And if they don't, I will.

Dr. Rost's book is, unfortunately, best enjoyed and understood by people either currently employed in the pharmaceutical industry, unemployed because they were retaliated against or whistleblowers from other industries. His writing is detail heavy - appreciated by an attorney like myself - but perhaps a little tedious for the casual reader. However, if you really, truly want to know what is going on at any of the mega pharmaceuticals firms, this book will provide you with valuable insider insight you won't find anywhere else.

I'd also like to take my hat off to Dr. Rost's attorney for his patience with his media-friendly and zealous client. It can be difficult for an attorney to see beyond the dollar signs of a settlement through to the heart of a client who is intent on bringing the truth forward - even at the risk of their own case, their own settlement. Most whistleblowers aren't troublemakers. They didn't wake up one morning thinking, "I'm going to start looking for something I can blow the whistle on." They're not gadflys. They are normal, decent people for whom the principle is thing. It's right vs. wrong for them. They know wrong when they see it and they can't look away. They can't forget. They can't go along with it. So they start by speaking up; hoping, against hope that their dissent at a meeting will stop the wrong. But it doesn't. Little by little they begin to realize that they're the only one in the room who has a problem with what they are being told to do. For most people, integrity has a price tag. For whistleblowers, it doesn't. They may end up with a check in the end, but usually only after that suffering years of harrasment, unemployment or underemployment, depression, criticism from friends and family, and isolation from co-workers. How do you put a price tag on that?

Years ago, I spoke with Dr. Jeffrey Wigand, the Brown & Williamson whistleblower who put big tobacco and their lies on "Sixty Minutes" and whose story was memorialized in the movie The Insider. Our conversations took place years after he testified against big tobacco, after he had changed careers and was voted Teacher of the Year. The thing I remember most is that he told me that even years later, he was still be followed. Still being harassed. Still receiving death threats. I ask again, how do you put a price tag on that?

We live in a world where people are encouraged to drink the corporate kool-aid. Why? Look what happened in Jonestown? Pharmaceutical companies are just a corporate cult with market share as the savior, medicines as their demi-gods and doctors as their disciples. Read the book. May it help all of us strive to be better people - people who are willing to stick out our necks in order to leave this world a little better than it was the day we entered it. Good job, Dr. Rost. And if it doesn't sound too condescending...I'm proud of you.

Most Americans don't know they have the legal power to redress corporate corruption and wrong-doing. Citizens can file a case under the False Claims Act if they have proof their employer has defrauded the United States government. 'Giant Killers,' by Henry Scammell, explains in gripping detail how average, honest Americans have played David against the corporate Goliath, and won. 'Giant Killers' brings out the David in all of us.

The book is an inspiring set of stories. In one, a veteran comes home to a job with a corporate electronics manufacturer, only to find that his company expects him to approve faulty products that are then sold to the U.S. government, at great profit. He balks. His bosses ostracize and then force him out of the company. This story plays out agains and again throughout the book, till you want to hurl the book at a wall in despair.

Enter the lawyers. As a lawyer who prosecutes 'qui tam' suits under the False Claims Act (the 1986 law that allows whistle-blowers to get a percentage of the financial settlement if the case against their employer is successful), I believe Henry Scammell's book does a good job of showing how whistle-blowers and their legal teams can win in the fight against corporate corruption. This area of law is not widely publicized, which is a shame, since there is no end to corporations and companies ready to practice fraud against the government, if they can get away with it.

'Giant Killers' is a book that is easy to read and is emotionally satisfying: the good guys win in the end. Publicity for the False Claims Act is timely, since we may be needing this protction against fraud now more than ever. Cheer for the whistle-blowers and their lawyers who bring a little justice to an unjust world.

"The Whistleblower" by Peter Rost ought to come with a warning label: "Don't read before bedtime. This page-turner won't let you sleep until you've read it cover to cover."

"The Whistleblower" is much more than a story about one man's titanic battle against corruption in the pharmaceutical industry. It's a story of courage in the face of corruption in any industry ... and a must-read book for anyone who has ever fought (or thought about fighting) the system.

I have read many books about the healthcare industry and this is a very HONEST book... it amazes me how we all got into the healthcare business to help people and then you get SUCKED into the politics that rampage the healthcare industry. If you are a honest, hardworking person and you irregularities and tell senior management the next thing, you know you are out looking for another job.... THEY FIRE YOU! When I read this book I didn't feel like I was the only this has happened too!

An excellent book on the new age of mergers and the lack of support for the employees that don't get the golden parachutes.

Good reading for all ages.

The Whistleblower describes Dr. Rost's experience as a pharmaceutical executive with three different companies (Wyeth, Pharmacia, and Pfizer), focusing on some questionable practices that went on behind the scenes, and his efforts to cope with the legal and professional ramifications.

It's engaging reading, and disturbing at the same time, with the expected doses of corporate intrigue, dirty tricks, legal maneuvering, etc. As I mentioned in a recent post, the pharma industry has no corner on the market of either virtue or vice, and there is certainly some unsavory stuff revealed in these pages. However, while reading it, the quiet voice of experience continued to remind me, chapter by chapter, that "there are two sides to every story." This book is one side.

Pfizer managed - twice - to acquire companies (Warner-Lambert and Pharmacia) that had some dubious marketing skeletons in their closets. Dr. Rost was in the process of trying to get Pharmacia to clean up its act in his franchise (Genotropin) when the acquistion occurred, and the subsequent problems unfolded when Pfizer inherited the legacy issues (and people) surrounding this franchise. How all of this was handled and mishandled is the focus of this book.

Dr. Rost is evidently a man of no small ego, from what I can gather out of this book and his blog - not always a bad trait, as those with a strong ego drive often are the ones who persevere to accomplish big things. And I will give the man this - he's got guts. He put it out on the line personally and professionally, when he thought there was wrongdoing. Love him, hate him, or scratch your head in perplexity - he's got some steel in his spine.

Of course, it is impossible to verify the veracity of everything contained in this - or any similar - book. However, The Whistleblower does provide some clear warning signals, and if its end result is to make corporations tread more carefully and transparently, then perhaps good will come of it.

Peter Rost drops a bomb on the pharmaceutical industry in this fast-paced expose. I wish I had kept as detailed notes and records of my pharma career - my own book would have been a lot better. Dr. Rost doesn't just crack open the door to the drug industry; he kicks the damn thing down like The Terminator. The author, however, doesn't limit his criticism to only the drug companies; he is amazingly candid with his own mistakes, a refreshing and welcome addition that serves to increase his credibility. Readers will appreciate Rost's keen eye, as well as his ability to explain potentially tedious material in an interesting way. It's hard to believe post-Enron that companies can still be dumb enough to ignore the concerns of well-intentioned employees, concerns that have huge moral, legal and financial implications. This book will be eye opening for the uninitiated and sobering for industry veterans. For all, it should be required reading before your next trip to the doctor's office!