GSK whistleblower's reward is money well spent | Business | guardian.co.uk

The $96m (£60m) that Cheryl Eckard will collect as the person who blew the whistle on GlaxoSmithKline's defective manufacturing is an extraordinary sum. But the failings in Glaxo's factory in Puerto Rico (now closed) were also extraordinary. Mixed drug types and doses in the same bottle is as serious as it gets in the drug-manufacturing business.

In the circumstances, $96m doesn't look ridiculous. In the pharmaceutical industry's glory days of the 1990s, there were a number of chief executives who became multi-multi-millionaires thanks to their share options. Who's to say that Eckard's contribution to improved pharmaceutical standards was a lesser one?

The US system that entitles a whistle-blower to a portion of the fine imposed upon a company can produce these spectacular payouts, but it seems to work well. Glaxo's chief executive at the time, Jean-Pierre Garnier, ignored the phone call from a concerned Eckhard. Other chief executives are now more likely to take the call in similar circumstances. That sounds like progress.

via guardian.co.uk

Posted via email from Jack's posterous