A former Pfizer official in a lawsuit accused the company of illegally boosting sales of its top-selling drug Lipitor through an elaborate campaign of misleading educational programs for doctors.
Jesse Polansky, claims that the educational campaign was a key part of a marketing strategy that "led thousands of physicians to prescribe Lipitor for millions of patients who did not need medication" and could be harmed by overly aggressive treatment.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in February 2004. It was immediately sealed to allow federal prosecutors time to decide if they wanted to intervene in the case. In August, the government said it wouldn't intervene, lifting the seal. Pfizer was served a copy of the suit yesterday, according to Dr. Polansky's lawyer, Steve Berman of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro.
Dr. Polansky was Pfizer's director of outcomes management strategies from 2001 to 2003, and his responsibilities included reviewing some of the marketing materials for Lipitor and other Pifzer products. He says he was fired by Pfizer after complaining about marketing he considered to be improper. Dr. Polansky now works as the senior medical officer for Medicare in a unit that investigates fraud and abuse at the big government health insurer.
The suit seeks compensation for Dr. Polansky as a whistleblower under laws that could give him a share of money recovered for any overpayments made by federal health-insurance programs.
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