Whistleblower Gets $51.5 Million

by | Sep 26, 2009

As many of you know, the law firm of Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata & Siegel, P.C. is currently involved in a significant whistleblower case and considers themselves “your whistleblower law firm“.

Now comes the story of John Kopchinski who exposed problems with Pfizer’s painkiller, Bextra, and will receive more than $51.5 million from the settlement. Mr. Kopchinski will earn more than $51.5 million as a result of his whistleblower lawsuit against the world’s biggest drug maker and the record penalty that the company must pay the U.S. government for its massive marketing transgression. Mr. Kopchinski said in a statement:

In the army I was expected to protect people at all costs. At Pfizer, I was expected to increase profits at all costs, even when sales meant endangering lives. I couldn’t do that.

Mr. Kopchinski was fired by Pfizer in March, 2003, two years before the company removed Bextra from the market because of concerns that were raised over the risks of heart attacks and strokes. Mr. Kopchinski and five other whistleblowers were awarded more than $102 million in payments from the U.S. government under the False Claims Act through which individuals can reap rewards for exposing corporate wrongdoing.

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