Dealing With PharmaIndustry Discipline

A federal judge in the USA has set aside a jury verdict that awarded $340,000 to a scientist fired by Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Therakos. The researcher had claimed he was dismissed because he opposed sending government regulators inadequate test results to get a fast approval of a medical device, and that the termination violated J&J's corporate beliefs and credo. He plans to appeal.

Meantime, Eli Lilly has disciplined two of its salesman for improperly promoting the antidepressant Prozac (fluoxetine) to high school students during a school seminar on depression. The salesmen, filling in for a doctor who had been scheduled to speak, lectured the students and handed out note-pads and pens with Prozac's name on them.