Pfizer’s rogue exec strikes back
Executive Summary
Peter Rost files a wrongful termination suit against Pfizer, CEO Hank McKinnell and other senior executives Dec. 12. Rost's suit alleges the defendants violated the N.J. Conscientious Employee Protection Act, which prohibits companies from retaliating against whistleblowers. Pfizer terminated Rost, who held the title VP-marketing, Dec. 1 following the unsealing of a qui tam lawsuit in which Rost alleges Pharmacia promoted the human growth hormone product Genotropin off-label prior to Pifzer's acquisition of the company in 2003 (1"The Pink Sheet" Dec. 5, 2005, In Brief). The Boston U.S. Attorney chose not to intervene in the lawsuit. Rost has been an outspoken advocate of pharmaceutical importation...