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HarperCollins Publishers Inc Hardback English
False Claims
One Insider's Impossible Battle Against Big Pharma Corruption
By Lisa Pratta
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For the first time, Lisa Pratta shares her story of going undercover as a whistleblower at a Big Pharma company and standing up to systemic corruption, greed, and harassmentall while caring for her special needs son as a single mother. When Lisa Pratta started her career as a pharmaceutical sales representative, she had no idea of the industrys depravity, and the endemic sexual harassment, bribery, and fraud she witnessed only got worse over time. Lisa hoped that might all change when she landed her dream job with a small company called Questcor which sold a drug that, when prescribed correctly, could help patients with multiple sclerosis. Yet Questcor realized they could make more money prescribing the drug incorrectly. While the FDA had approved the drug for two- to three-week treatments, Questcor was training, encouraging, and incentivizing its sales force to push a five-day treatment plan not backed by any scienceand arbitrarily increased the drugs price to $28,000 for a single vial. Pratta recognized this as being not only dangerous for patients, but also highly illegal. As the single mother of a special-needs son, Lisa couldnt risk losing her jobbut her moral compass also wouldnt allow her to stay silent. Thus began her double life as a whistleblower. For nearly a decade she clandestinely fed information to the Department of Justice. Resisting internal pressure to succumb to Questcors illegal sales tactics, she was constantly harassed by supervisors and in danger of being fired, while the government offered her no protection in the event her betrayal was discovered. This incredible story offers an insiders look at the unscrupulous sales methods used by Americas corrupt pharmaceutical industry, analyzes the levers they pull to extract ludicrous profits from the sick and dying, and is a page-turning portrait of one womans epic fight against Big Pharma and a mothers heroic struggle to protect her family.
For the first time, Lisa Pratta shares her story of going undercover as a whistleblower at a Big Pharma company and standing up to systemic corruption, greed, and harassmentall while caring for her special needs son as a single mother.
When Lisa Pratta started her career as a pharmaceutical sales representative, she had no idea of the industrys depravity, and the endemic sexual harassment, bribery, and fraud she witnessed only got worse over time.
Lisa hoped that might all change when she landed her dream job with a small company called Questcor which sold a drug that, when prescribed correctly, could help patients with multiple sclerosis. Yet Questcor realized they could make more money prescribing the drug incorrectly. While the FDA had approved the drug for two- to three-week treatments, Questcor was training, encouraging, and incentivizing its sales force to push a five-day treatment plan not backed by any scienceand arbitrarily increased the drugs price to $28,000 for a single vial.
Pratta recognized this as being not only dangerous for patients, but also highly illegal. As the single mother of a special-needs son, Lisa couldnt risk losing her jobbut her moral compass also wouldnt allow her to stay silent.
Thus began her double life as a whistleblower. For nearly a decade she clandestinely fed information to the Department of Justice. Resisting internal pressure to succumb to Questcors illegal sales tactics, she was constantly harassed by supervisors and in danger of being fired, while the government offered her no protection in the event her betrayal was discovered.
This incredible story offers an insiders look at the unscrupulous sales methods used by Americas corrupt pharmaceutical industry, analyzes the levers they pull to extract ludicrous profits from the sick and dying, and is a page-turning portrait of one womans epic fight against Big Pharma and a mothers heroic struggle to protect her family.