Peter Rost (doctor)
Peter Rost is an American former drug marketing executive who is most known for taking public stances critical of the pharmaceutical industry as an "insider" and
Biography
Rost worked at medical advertising agencies prior to working for pharmaceutical companies.[2]
Rost started working at Wyeth in approximately 1992; seven years after joining Wyeth, he was promoted to head of Wyeth-Lederle Nordiska, Wyeth's Scandinavian subsidiary. Rost has said that he doubled sales during his tenure. He became concerned about Wyeth's accounting practices and informed upper management of his concerns. Shortly thereafter, he was transferred from Sweden to New Jersey, a move he characterized as a retaliatory demotion. He filed a lawsuit against Wyeth, which was settled out of court for undisclosed terms.[4]
Rost left Wyeth for
In August 2004, Rost posted a glowing review of Marcia Angell's book, The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It on amazon.com.[6] The review was noticed by a reporter at USA Today, which interviewed him for an article on the drug industry.[7] The public spotlight from the USA Today article "changed Rost's life" and launched his new career as an insider critical of the drug industry.[2][8]
In September 2004, Rost testified at a Congressional hearing over the reimportation of drugs, in which he stated that "Holding up a vote on importation, stopping good importation bills has a high, high cost not just in money, but in American lives. Every day we delay, Americans die because they cannot afford life-saving drugs." Pfizer responded by sending a letter to Congress that said, "Dr. Rost has no qualifications to speak on importation, no responsibilities in this area at Pfizer, no knowledge of the information and analysis Pfizer has provided to the government on this issue, and no substantive grasp of how importation may impact the safety of this nation's drug supply."[9] Rost followed up that testimony with an opinion piece published by The New York Times.[10] In mid-2005, Rost appeared on a 60 Minutes segment about drug pricing.[11]
In late 2005, Rost's lawsuit against Pfizer under the
Rost started blogging at
In September 2006, Rost's book, The Whistleblower, Confessions of a Healthcare Hitman, was published, which described his tenure at Pharmacia and Pfizer and his efforts to deal with the marketing of Genotropin.[8] In 2007, he published Killer Drug, a novel about a fictional drug company that develops a biological weapon for the military.[8]
In August 2007, Rost started to write a daily blog for BrandweekNRX[13] and a column for Realtid,[14] a Swedish online business newspaper. Later in 2007, Rost announced his new business venture, as a Pharmaceutical Marketing Expert Witness.[15][16]
Rost was featured in the award-winning documentary film Fire in the Blood in 2013.[17]
Litigation
In January 2003, The New York Times published an article describing a whistleblowing lawsuit Rost had filed against Wyeth, claiming that Wyeth had practiced tax and compensation fraud worldwide, and describing Rost's separate lawsuit against Wyeth for removing him from heading a staff of 125 Wyeth-Lederle Nordiska to heading a group of eight people in New Jersey, which Rost described as a retaliatory demotion and Wyeth described as a promotion.[4][18] Later in 2003, Wyeth settled the whistleblowing lawsuit for an undisclosed amount.[18]
In June 2003, Rost filed a case under the
Rost's FCA lawsuit was dismissed in September 2006 for failing to show that Pharmacia's marketing and kickbacks generated fraudulent claims to be submitted to the US Government; Rost appealed.[20]
On April 2, 2007, Pfizer and the Department of Justice, which had been conducting its own investigations focused on kickbacks and illegal off-label marketing (not fraud), announced that two Pharmacia subsidiaries had pleaded guilty and agreed to pay at total of $34.7 million in civil and criminal penalties for
In November 2007, Rost won his appeal of his FCA case, and the case was sent back to district court, where in September 2010 the judge again dismissed his claims as not proving fraud against the federal government.[20] Rost appealed again, but withdrew his appeal in August 2013 when Pfizer, the Department of Justice, and Rost settled on undisclosed terms.[20]
Notes
- ^ Berenson, Alex (8 June 2005). "At Pfizer, the Isolation Increases for a Whistle-Blower - The New York Times". The New York Times.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Jim Edwards for BrandWeek. March 20, 2006. Bad Medicine. BrandWeek. Original link broken, Created link from internet archive on August 9, 2014. Archive date March 28, 2006.
- ^ a b c "Casetext".
- ^ a b David Cay Johnson and Melody Petersen for The New York Times. January 17, 2003 "Whistle-Blower Accuses Wyeth Of Tax Dodges"
- ^ a b c d e Alex Berensen for The New York Times. December 2, 2005 "Pfizer Fires a Vice President Who Criticized the Company's Sales Practices"
- ^ Peter Rost, customer review at Amazon.com. August 25, 2004 Fantastic Reading
- ^ By Rita Rubin for USA Today. September 13, 2004 "Prescription for reform?"
- ^ a b c Jake Whitney for Guernica Magazine. June 11, 2008 Healthscare: Jake Whitney interviews Peter Rost
- ^ Robert Pear for The New York Times. September 24, 2004 "Insider Challenges Drug Industry on Imports"
- ^ Peter Rost. Opinion piece in the New York Times. October 30, 2004 Medicines Without Borders
- ^ Alex Berenson for The New York Times. June 8, 2005 "At Pfizer, the Isolation Increases for a Whistle-Blower"
- ^ Maria Aspan for the New York Times. June 26, 2006 A Blogger Is Bounced From the Huffington Post
- ^ BrandweekNRX August 2007
- ^ Realtid.se
- ^ Rost's Litigation Consultant website
- ^ Peter Rost's personal blog
- ^ David Rooney for Hollywood Reporter. January 18, 2013 Fire in the Blood: Sundance Review
- ^ a b c d Kirsty Barnes for In-Pharma Technogist. January 6, 2006 The Perils of Whistleblowing
- ^ Reuters, in The New York Times. December 14, 2005 Whistle-Blower Sues Pfizer
- ^ a b c Daniel Wilson for Law360 August 23, 2013 Pfizer Settles Former Exec's FCA Suit In 1st Circ.
- ^ Associated Press in the Boston Globe. April 3, 2007 Pfizer units will pay fines in kickback case
- ^ Marius Meland for Law360. April 02, 2007 Pfizer Pays $34.7M To Settle Genotropin Charges