Whistleblower sues Pfizer over Lipitor

There's nothing like a whistleblower lawsuit to get a company riled. A former Pfizer exec has accused the company of using continuing medical education as stealth marketing for its cholesterol drug Lipitor. Filed in 2004, the suit has been under seal as the feds decided whether to prosecute it themselves. They didn't, so Pfizer was officially served yesterday.

The company emphasized the feds' decision not to intervene in its denial of all the charges. "We believe that our sales and marketing practices are solely based on our prescription information" as approved by the FDA, Pfizer said. That may be so. But the government has chosen not to intervene before in cases that ended up with huge fines against drug makers.

- read the report from the Wall Street Journal

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