Whistleblower Calls Pfizer Settlement A "Speeding Ticket"

On Monday, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer admitted that two of its subsidiary companies had illegally paid doctors to prescribe its drugs and promoted the off-label use of Genotropin, a hormone intended for use in children with growth-related failures.

The company agreed to pay $34.7 million in fines and penalties. On the surface, this sounds like a lot of money -- but Peter Rost, the former Pfizer vice president who blew the whistle on their wrongdoing, says the settlement is basically a corporate-scale wrist-slap.

Obviously, the $11 billion profit is just a fraction of Pfizer's real profit, but let's use that number anyway.

$11 billion translates into nearly $35 million in profit EVERY DAY.

So the $35 million criminal fine was equivalent to one day's profit.

Let's put that in perspective: If you make $50,000 a year, that means you earn $137 every day. That is equivalent to a regular speeding ticket.

Did a speeding ticket ever stop you from speeding again?

When the settlement was announced, federal prosecutors praised Pfizer for their honesty. Rost was not happy.

"The Justice Department praised Pfizer for self-reporting," Rost told
Corporate Crime Reporter. "But Pfizer would have done nothing if I didn't twist its arm. I was floored when I read the press release. They have one guy who lost his career, lost his job for doing the right thing. That would be me. And they praised the company that fired me?"

Pfizer's $35 million fine: Equivalent to a speeding ticket [Online Journal]
Pfizer Unit Pleads Guilty, Prosecutors Praise the Corporate Criminal, Not the Whistleblower [Corporate Crime Reporter]

Image: Terry Johnston