Glaxo whistleblower gets £60m payout

27th Oct 2010 13:29

The whistleblower who revealed contamination issues at GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) old plant in Puerto Rico has been awarded a $96m (£60m) settlement.It has taken eight years to get a result though. Cheryl Eckard, a former quality assurance manager at GSK, first went to the drug manufacturing facility in Cidra in 2002.The next year she was made redundant after issuing a number of warnings to management about conditions at the SB Pharmco plant which made antibiotics and drugs for nausea and diabetes.GSK yesterday agreed to pay $750m to settle charges that it made unadulterated drugs like antidepressant Paxil at the plant between 2001 and 2005.Eckard complained that some drugs there were being produced in a non-sterile environment and that the water system inside the factory was contaminated with micro-organisms. The facility was shut down in 2009. GSK had agreed to pay the money back in July, but detail finalised Tuesday revealed a $150m criminal fine that includes forfeiture of $10m in assets, plus another $600m to settle allegations that, because the drugs were adulterated, false claims for reimbursement were submitted to government healthcare programs. "This settlement resolves a significant and long-standing legal issue facing the company," said PD Villarreal, Glaxo's senior vice president and head of Global Litigation.