TOPEKA — Kansas Attorney General Steve Six said Kansas will receive nearly $40 million as part of a $2.3 billion federal settlement involving giant drug company Pfizer. Pfizer and its subsidiaries paid kickbacks, engaged in illegal marketing campaigns that encouraged doctors to use drugs for unapproved purposes and took part in Medicaid fraud, Six said. ABC Radio reports that the main whistle blower in this case was a former company sales rep who said in a statement: “At Pfizer I was expected to increase profits at all costs — even when sales meant endangering lives. I couldn’t do that.” Whistle blowers say in exchange for hearing the company’s sales pitch on using drugs for unapproved uses, doctors were paid up to $1,500 dollars to attend meetings, and were treated to conferences at lush resorts, given airfare, hotels, meals — even massages. As a condition of the settlement, Pfizer will also enter into a corporate integrity and allow regulators to closely monitor the company’s future marketing and sales practices.
