STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re reading about a fugitive who became a biotech exec, a hospital suing Lilly, and more
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- Ronald Fischer, convicted of sexual assault and on the run for 20 years, was discovered last week working in the biotech industry under the alias Richard Graydon, including at least one full-time biotech role and contracts with at least two large drugmakers.
- Fischer's CV — featuring stellar academic credentials, board certification, and experience leading teams that successfully developed cancer drugs — was largely fabricated yet convincing enough to evade hiring scrutiny for two decades, per an industry recruiter who spoke with him.
- An industry recruiter said Fischer's background wasn't all that surprising because his (fabricated) credentials 'checked the right boxes' for top biotech and pharma positions, underscoring how CV-driven vetting can miss criminal histories.
- Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital in New Hampshire filed suit against Eli Lilly, challenging the company's new policy requiring hospitals to submit claims data when dispensing Lilly drugs under the federal 340B drug discount program.
- The hospital alleges Lilly's requirement imposes an illegal policy with 'non-negotiable terms' and 'retaliatory pricing penalties in order to extract commercially valuable data.'
- After refusing to comply with the February policy, the hospital says Lilly earlier this month began terminating 340B discounts to dozens of hospitals.
Why it matters: A convicted fugitive evaded biotech vetting for two decades using a fabricated CV that passed background checks at multiple companies, exposing how credential-driven pharma hiring can miss serious criminal histories. Simultaneously, Lilly's 340B data demands and resulting discount terminations at dozens of hospitals are now being challenged in court as illegal retaliation, putting the company's enforcement playbook under judicial scrutiny.
