Hats off to Peter Rost

I never thought I'd be cheering a Chem King. But, well, the world is upside down these days.

A top drug company executive broke ranks with industry...and endorsed a proposal before the Montgomery County [Mass] Council to allow county employees to buy lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada.

Peter Rost, vice president of marketing for Pfizer Inc., said he decided to become one of the first drug industry executives to support the concept because he was tired of hearing colleagues say the practice is a public health risk.

"This has been proven to be safe in Europe," said Rost, who cautioned he was not speaking on behalf of Pfizer. "The real concern about safety is about people who do not take drugs because they cannot afford it. The safety issue is a made-up story."

His comments came as a surprise to his bosses, who maintain that Montgomery officials would put their employees at risk if they approve this measure.

"His position is certainly not Pfizer's," said Bryant Haskins, a Pfizer spokesman. "We do not think importation is a good thing."

  WaPo article

No, he certainly isn't speaking for Pfizer, and he may not be VP for long, either. But I'm sure his portfolio will hold him through the "lean times".

Well, in checking for an update on this issue, I find that Mr. Rost is indeed in a tub of hot water.

A drug company executive who spoke out in support of Montgomery County's proposal to import drugs from Canada and similar legislation before Congress said yesterday that his company has launched an investigation into his political activities.

Peter Rost, vice president of marketing for Pfizer Inc., said the company has hired a New York law firm to find out what elected officials and media organizations he has spoken with in the past month. Rost, who disagrees with Pfizer's position that Canadian drugs are potentially harmful, said lawyers grilled him for several hours Wednesday.

"I was peppered with questions from morning to evening," said Rost, who joined Pfizer in 2001....Rost said he complied but has no plans to quit the company or stop speaking out on the issue. "People are dying, and if I can make a difference by speaking out, it is clearly worth it," Rost said. "I think it would be immoral for me not to continue to speak out."

  WaPo article

Good God! Morals?! What next? He'll be saying the government should get out of America's bedrooms.

...Last week, Chuck Hardwick, a senior vice president at Pfizer, sent a letter to several members of Congress stating, "Dr. Rost has no qualifications to speak on importation, no responsibilities in this area at Pfizer, no knowledge of the information and analysis Pfizer has provided to the government on this issue, and no substantive grasp of how importation may impact the safety of this nation's drug supply."

He was, however, director of European commercial operations for another drug company in the mid-1990s, where the practice of reimportation was commonplace and never resulted in any safety issues.

Rost said he believes that he cannot be fired for his comments because they were made on his own time and are protected in New York, where Pfizer is based, and in New Jersey, where he lives, under laws prohibiting employment discrimination based on political beliefs.

Oh, Peter. Dear, innocent Peter. They can do so much more to you than fire you. Best wishes, and on behalf of the millions of Americans in need of affordable health care, thank you.

And by the way, Montgomery County did vote to allow purchasing of drugs from Canada.

Patrick Kelly, vice president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, expressed worry about the financial implications. "We are concerned that this signifies a growing willingness of government entities to consider imposing price controls on drug companies," he said in a statement.

"Free market capitalism and free trade aren't so great when they work against the corporation and in favor of the people," he managed to avoid saying out loud.