AstraZeneca Faces Significant Penalty in Whistleblower’s Second Large Case

At one time, whistleblower James Wetta was a thriving company man for the US-based pharma firm known as Eli Lilly. Eventually, he decided that he had seen enough of what he perceived were Lilly's dishonest business methods, as they related to the antipsychotic known as Zeprexa. He charged that the company was using misleading and deceptive marketing techniques that, he claimed, were unfounded and dangerous to the public's health. Wetta quit the company in 2002, soon after the lawsuit was brought to court.

Wetta has once again filed a lawsuit – this time against AstraZeneca. AstraZeneca is a publicly traded pharmacology corporation – headquartered in the United Kingdom – that manufactures a wide array of drugs targeting many different physical and emotional ailments. Just as he did with Lilly, Wetta has been awarded a settlement in the public's favor against AstraZeneca in his claim that the company used false wording in their advertisements in regard to the benefits of Seroquel.

Seroquel is manufactured to treat the symptoms of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Wetta claims, however, that he was told by his superiors to work with his managers to push the drugs on adolescent psychiatrists, primary-care doctors, and caregivers for elderly people suffering from dementia. When he refused, he was subsequently given an ultimatum regarding whether he would push the drug or lose his job. Wetta decided that he was going to take AstraZeneca to court to argue against the company's intended use of Seroquel.

Wetta's 2004 lawsuit, which was just made available to the public on Tuesday, claims that AstraZeneca was utilizing its vast network of resources to sponsor educational initiatives taking place online that were meant to instruct health professionals on the use of Seroquel. Wetta also makes light of the fact that doctors were remunerated monetarily for prescribing the drug to their sick patients.

In his earlier lawsuit against Lilly, Wetta also made claims that he was presented with ultimatums regarding his job performance. He said that Lilly wanted him to get involved in a marketing plan in which the patient's medication would be switched without their knowledge of the change. It was shortly thereafter that Wetta ended up quitting the company and filing his lawsuit.

For James Wetta, he is now presented with another opportunity to recognize monetary gain in a court of law, as he did with his suit against Eli Lilly. Wetta joined several others in the reception of the $100 million in profits that resulted from the court case against Eli Lilly and stands to do so again with the $45 million reward that the court will be having AstraZeneca pay.