Inside Information

When you think of disgruntled employees you think of crazy people. The kinds who come back to work with guns and mow down their old colleagues. But there are other kinds. Some people are good and the company management is lacking.

Here is what a high ranking former employee at a small biotech had to say about the management:

I thought they had some good technology..., however, the leaders had no clue how to develop ethical pharmaceuticals and they weren't folks that I could respect. It was really unfortunate as they hired good people but really didn't allow themselves success due to incompetence at the top.

Will those four clowns at the top every get rich like they want?

For the record, the leaders went on to make a rather lucrative deal with Big Pharma. The Big Pharma company wanted a large amount of the drug to start their own research. Little Biotech company had about 2% of what the Big Pharma company asked for. What they did have did not pass the bioburden test. So how did they get the positive data that attracted Big Pharma?

Overseas, third world country testing! Unethical? Yes. Could the leaders "develop" pharmaceuticals? No. They haven't made one molecule that could be used in the US or Europe. Did they get rich? Yes. The "clowns" at the top have multiple houses and new cars and all of the things a greedy person would cherish.

Could we blow the whistle on this company? I don't think so. Overseas testing is legal. Incompetence in medical research is subjective. Unethical conduct can be argued against by claiming ignorance to the rules. They could claim that they had to go outside the US and Europe because they are small and can't afford the rigorous process in the modern world. Once again medical science has designed in flaws that select for the bad guys.

But this is the kicker today. Our history is rotten to the core. Human beings can't be trusted. Testing dangerous drugs on human subjects is decidedly bad. Now we know better. Right?

The new test subjects have to take "medicine" that would not pass muster in the US or Europe. Once again, we've lowered our standards and found people whom we have less fear of. They are not protected as Americans and Europeans. The prisoners and mentally ill were not protected either. How far have we come in our humanitarian ways?

The "clowns" at the top of this little biotech are not evil. They are greedy and they want to be powerful players in the business. They are a small and dangerously desperate company.