'Round the Sphere: RLS redux -- Rost's Legal Suit

Peter Rost, a former Pfizer VP, wins appeal in qui tam case against Pfizer Inc.

Peter Rost, the writer of NRX, filed a qui tam suit against Pfizer Inc., during his employment as Vice President at Pfizer. The suit alleged illegal marketing of Genotropin, a growth hormone.

The information in the suit resulted in Pfizer paying a $34.7 million fine in April 2007, however, the district court ultimately held that 'Rost failed to plead his fraud claims with sufficient specificity' and his civil suit was dismissed.

Yesterday the United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit vacated the decision by the district court to dismiss Rost's suit, and concluded in its ruling, 'The dismissal of the action is vacated. The case is remanded to the district court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

What this means is that Rost gets an opportunity to amend his original complaint with additional information requested by the court.

"In other words," says Ed Silverman over at Pharmalot, "he's back in the game and may, ultimately, win a slice of the Pfizer fine."

Hmmm... slice. Hmmm... donuts!

Speaking of RLS and piles of money, can you guess how much money the US healthcare system may be wasting treating Restless Leg Syndrome with Requip?

Is it:

$150,000 per year?
$1,250,000 per year?
$285,000,000 per year?
$1,100,000,000 per year?

I know. I know. It depends on what you mean by "waste."

Anyway, over at Pharma Marketing Blog, I whipped out my trusty Microsoft desktop calculator and did some math so that you don't have to.