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Bad Medicine: The Glaxo Case

January 2, 2011 5:15 PM

Drug company whistle-blower Cheryl Eckard tells Scott Pelley about her experience trying to fix problems at a pharmaceutical factory that made her a key figure in a federal lawsuit and a multimillionaire.

Whistle-Blower Lawsuit: Bad Medicine
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by jacquelinehobbs November 7, 2011 8:37 PM EST
Hi CBS News Family:
My name is Jacqueline and I am a 55y/o B/F, a wife, Mother of 3,with 7 grandchildren. I live in a small rural area in south Georgia. I was so excited today when I saw your segment about GSK Whistle Blower. I am one of the surviving consumer who took the "poisonous" drug Lotronex. Which was to be their "Trillion" dollar money maker!In June of 2000 I took the drug for my IBS flareup and my life and my health hit rock bottom. And yet today, 11 and a 1/2 years later I still have not had the proper medical care I need. Ten GI/GE specialists, in 5 states,hundreds of tests, jobless, disabled R.N.,broke,and basicially home-bound,and no life later,I suffer the worse pain in my GUTS 24 hrs./7 days a week, than a person could ever have. I have made it this far because of God's Amazing Grace. After I was dx. with Ischemic Colitis, I just never recovered. I got worse!!! Doctors have given me the run around so long that now I go through the motion of living each day. I would love to be interviewed as a follow-up to your GSK story, inorder to appeal to doctors who have treated patients who took Lotronex,and got some relief from their suffering. I sued the drug company, and they did a 360 degree turn on us, their clients. They SOLD us out. Boy did they lie. Can you image how they would look, if you decide to air my story. and boy, do I have one to tell the whole world!!!Several years ago,Allison Taylor had set-up for me to appear on CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, but my lawyers advised against it.Now I know why they did. They knew that they were going to put the "TAKE" on us. You can reach me @ 2601 6th St. S.E., Moultrie,Ga 31768 or @ 229.985.4273 (HOME), 229.798.8770 or 5537(cellulars). I hope and pray that I hear from you first.I thank you for your time, cooperation, and concerns in this matter.
"Nurse Jackie and Lotronex" or " The Woman with the Issue of Blood"
Sincerely,
Jacqueline J. Hobbs, R.N. P.S. Tell Allison hello and to give me a call!
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by MHodgson1600 February 18, 2011 7:34 PM EST
This is what happens when SOP's GMP's and DP's are not followed there in place to be followed. Not suggestions". There are life's at stake in what I and my coworkers produce. We take our product production seriously. There's no excuse for this kind of operation. "This won't happen on my watch" Michael Hodgson BI pharmaceuticals solids production. Senior Technician with twenty eight service.
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by AnwarAloysius January 18, 2011 7:47 PM EST
Sixty Minutes's brand of muckraking is past getting old. It's as bad as Fox News. One-sided and sensationalist all the way.

If they wanted to make this story interesting, they would ask how shareholders in Glaxo should feel about this matter. They would ask legislators on both sides of the aisle how they feel about the matter, given the nation's debate on health care as an entitlement.

This program is great at raising questions--but only half of the questions.

The Practical Economist
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by jajjaaj January 18, 2011 1:30 PM EST
I don't know how many times I would notice when drugs did not look the same as a previous prescription. I learned early to identify and confirm what was in the bottles and return them if they were wrong. Thank goodness for people like Cheryl and forcing those idiots to do the right thing.
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by Hans_Wright January 15, 2011 9:34 AM EST
I've had the same prescription filled at two pharmacies receiving two different colored pills with massively different efficacy and side effects. Sketchy. Come on drug mfgs.
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by fpmdaz January 6, 2011 9:35 AM EST
This story can be repeated within any hospital, health care organization, insurance company AND the one industry which uses public sentiment to pull the wool over the consumer's eyes - the supplement/herbal industry. There is no watchdog over the latter industry - thanks to the DSHEA legislation of 1994. You can be sold grass clippings in that supplement and never be the wiser. We should not need the feds to control our industries, but the greedy make it necessary.
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by Threewarriors January 5, 2011 9:15 PM EST
Did anyone notice how trashed the American flag was?
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by AustinWhistleblower January 4, 2011 7:21 PM EST
I filed a very real joint federal and state whistleblower case of fraud at my hospital employment in Austin, Texas. I was told the Attorney's Generals can cherry pick their cases because there is so much healthcare fraud. They take only the biggest best cases, and mine was declined because the rewards would have only been about fifty million dollars. If Obama would fully fund the Attorney's Generals to prosecute all the cases filed, he could completely fund and fix the healthcare crisis in this country. Are you listening, Mr. President?
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by micronanobot January 4, 2011 3:35 PM EST
I have vast records (emails, internal records and copies of procedure manuals) that need to be submitted to the FDA regarding defective FDA regulated products being labeled and distributed. This involves literally hundreds of products that were not even tested. Machine validations on multiple machines was not completed due to wrong procedures. Monthly qc not reliable due to failure to perform sampling properly. None of this has been reported. Can someone help me? I notified them of these problems and they chose to cover up the practice.
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by Graciela2010 January 4, 2011 9:11 AM EST
It certainly takes a lot of guts for Cheryl Eckard to stand up to the world's third largest pharmaceutical company. Almost exactly a year ago there was also a story aired on 60 Minutes about a courageous whistle-blower, Bradley Birkenfeld, who also stood up to wrongdoing. He stood up to the LARGEST bank in Europe, UBS. Bradley Birkenfeld single-handedly exposed the criminal activities of 19,000 UBS clients and forced UBS to pay the U.S. Government $780 million and discontinue its offshore banking activities with Americans. This has never been done in history! Additionally, for the first time in history UBS had to turn over the names of more than 4,000 U.S. citizens suspected of tax fraud.
Since the scandal broke, more than 14,000 Americans have notified the IRS that they had offshore bank accounts, bringing billions of dollars back to the U.S. Bradley Birkenfeld gave our country the biggest tax fraud case in history and not only was he not awarded for his brave efforts but he is in jail for that! Does that make any sense to anyone?!
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