Whistleblower: Ranbaxy systemically violated good manufacturing practices

In a statement issued after Ranbaxys settlement with the US Department of Justice,Thakur said that eight years ago,as the Director of Project and Information Management at Ranbaxy,he discovered that the company falsified drug data and systemically violated current good manufacturing practices and good laboratory practices.

Thakur claimed Ranbaxys management was notified of these widespread problems. When they failed to correct the problems,it left me with no choice but to alert healthcare authorities.

An ex-colleague,who worked with Thakur in Ranbaxy eight years back,recalls that Thakur was forced to quit the pharma firm in an unceremonious manner after spending a couple of years with the company.

Thakur,in his statement,indicated that in 2005,he discovered that the company falsified drug data and systemically violated current good manufacturing practices and good laboratory practices and subsequently notified Ranbaxys management of these widespread problems.

Later that year,Thakur reportedly left Ranbaxy. In 2007,Thakur filed a whistleblower lawsuit in the US District Court of Maryland under the False Claims Act FCA detailing Ranbaxys violations.

The lawsuit alleged that Ranbaxy caused false claims for payment to be submitted to US government healthcare programmes for numerous adulterated drugs as well as falsifying information about the drugs.

The FCAs qui tam provisions allow whistleblowers to report fraud on a government programme with the protection of a court-ordered seal and confidentiality,and receive a percentage of the amount recovered in a successful case.

Beato,head of the FCA and Whistleblower Practice Group at Stein Mitchell Muse amp; Cipollone LLP and counsel to Thakur,said,This case was fueled by the extraordinary courage of Dinesh Thakur.

A questionnaire sent to a public relations agency representing Thakur said it was assessing Dineshs schedule and that it would get back with the responses to the queries.