Pfizer's Genotropin growth hormone scandal spreads to athletes.

In April of 2007 Pfizer pled guilty on behalf of Pharmacia for offering kickbacks in connection with the sale of its human growth hormone Genotropin. You can read about that story in Corporate Crime Reporter: Pfizer Unit Pleads Guilty, Prosecutors Praise the Corporate Criminal, Not the Whistleblower

In the government’s sentencing memorandum (download here), the Department of Justice states that the violations took place . . . “with the knowledge and approval of Pharmacia’s senior business executives.” (Page 8.) Some of the senior execs at Pharmacia now run Schering-Plough, or so I've heard, including the guy who had the job as VP Endocrine Care at Pharmacia before me. But the government didn't name any names so we don't know if they referred to those senior executives.

And last week it was reported in the New York Times, that a company that illegally provided patients — in particular, athletes — with human growth hormone agreed to pay a $10.5 million fine, according to the United States attorney’s office in Boston. As part of a deferred prosecution agreement, the company, Specialty Distribution Services, Inc., agreed to cooperate with the government’s investigation over the next 36 months. Specialty Distribution Services is a subsidiary pharmacy of Express Scripts, which manages pharmaceutical plans for corporations.

What the media missed, because the Justice Department didn't tell them, is which pharmaceutical company was involved in this scheme.

In fact, the deferred prosecution agreement from the Justice Department to Ropes & Gray, the lawyers for Express Scripts, (Download deferred prosecution agreement here.pdf) started out saying, "WHEREAS, in October 2000, SDS, a wholly owned subsidiary of Express Scripts, Inc.("ESI"), was awarded a contract, by a pharmaceutical company, to distribute that pharmaceutical company's human growth hormone product."

Funny thing is, I happen to know that Express Scripts was awarded the contract to distribute the growth hormone Genotropin from Pharmacia in 2000, and that Express Scripts managed a "pharmacy" for Pharmacia, selling Genotropin to patients. The Express Scripts pharmacy fulfilled 10% of Genotropin sales and had a team of 14 pharmacists and pharmacy technicians on staff.

So I guess in addition to the $34.7 million the government earned in April, thanks to my Genotropin qui tam suit, the information in my suit just netted them another cool $10.5 million.

Question is, what's next?

And, why didn't the Justice Department spell out Pharmacia and Genotropin in the deferred prosecution agreement?

Are more growth hormone distributors targeted?

By the way, you probably won't be surprised if the same two Assistant United States Attorneys in Boston who managed the Genotropin settlement and deferred prosecution agreement with Pfizer and Pharmacia also handled this settlement; Susan Winkler and Jeremy Sternberg. I guess that can't be a coincidence . . .

- Peter Rost, M.D. is a former VP of Pfizer and the author of Killer Drug and The Whistleblower.

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