Ranbaxy whistleblower reveals how he exposed massive pharmaceutical fraud

(CBS News) Among the drugs prescribed to Americans, 80 percent are generic drugs, and 40 percent of drugs are now made overseas in countries such as China and India where U.S. oversight is weaker. Recently, CBS News' senior correspondent John Millerhas been looking at one of those companies -- Ranbaxy. Dinesh Thakur, an American-educated chemical engineer, was hired by Ranbaxy, back in 2003. He would later become a whistleblower, exposing massive fraud by the generic pharmaceutical giant, a company that sold Americans drugs like the generic version of Lipitor. His information led to Ranbaxy pleading guilty to seven felonies in a U.S. court in May, and pay $500 million in fines and settlements. Leading generic drug maker faked test results for FDA approval "The expectations is the drug's supposed to work as intended," Thakur said. "What we saw in this particular case is that trust was broken." Thakur began looking into Ranbaxy while he was still an executive there in 2004. Miller asked, "When you asked for the data, it was a black hole?" Thakur said, "It was a lot of trying, like pulling teeth." Read more about FDA's regulatory action against Ranbaxy Ranbaxy Whistleblower Dinesh Thakur's blog, including Ranbaxy legal documents Generic drug companies, such as Ranbaxy, have to prove their drugs are "bioequivalent," which means they have the same effect as the brand name. Thakur found Ranbaxy's drugs were being made for Americans with bioequivalence dat...
Source: PharmaGossip - Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: Source Type: blogs