Blood Feud: The Man Who Blew the Whistle on One of the Deadliest Prescription Drugs Ever

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Overview

Blood Feud is the electrifying true tale of Big Pharma's power, regulatory weakness, and the terrifying vulnerability of millions of innocent patients.

THE PLAYERS

The Drug: Procrit
An anti-anemia drug, this miraculous blood booster was one of the first biotech blockbusters. Developed by Amgen and licensed to a Johnson & Johnson company,...

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More About This Book

Overview

Blood Feud is the electrifying true tale of Big Pharma's power, regulatory weakness, and the terrifying vulnerability of millions of innocent patients.

THE PLAYERS

The Drug: Procrit
An anti-anemia drug, this miraculous blood booster was one of the first biotech blockbusters. Developed by Amgen and licensed to a Johnson & Johnson company, the drug was sold by the two companies under the brand names Procrit, Epogen, and Arenesp.

The Underdog: Mark Duxbury, Drug Salesman
Duxbury was the gung-ho salesman for the new biotech division of J&J, an irrepressible character full of jokes. In the early 1990s, he set out to spread the benefits of Procrit, and became a true believer and top seller. But he and his peers were told to steal business from J&J's partner, Amgen. Then came the marketing studies, the off-invoice rebates, doctor payments, and off-label claims. Duxbury tried to stop some of these ruthless programs, but was fired on trumped-up charges. He tried anything to warn the public: testifying in a secret arbitration, joining a class action effort, and filing a whistleblower suit. But he was thwarted at nearly every turn-until the surprising end.

The Best Friend: Dean McClellan, Drug Legend
Dean McClellan was Duxbury's friendly rival. He tried to beat his buddy's record and wound up selling $170 million worth of the drug, becoming a legend. When Duxbury got fired, McClellan tried to distance himself. But as news of Procrit's deadly power started to surface, McClellan agreed to hand over thousands of damning documents and help his friend blow the whistle on J&J.

The Crusader: Jan Schlichtmann, Esq.
Remember Jan Schlichtmann, protagonist of the best-selling book and Oscar nominated movie, A Civil Action. When her learned of Duxbury's mission, he felt the old fire rising in his belly and signed on. Now, he's gambling on yet another long shot, trying to fight on behalf of not just millions of cancer patients, but for every American who overpays for health-care.

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Editorial Reviews

From Barnes & Noble

Procrit was an anti-anemia drug, blood booster that brought $11 billion each year into Johnson & Johnson coffers. The only problem was it was a killer: Medical studies indicate that hundreds of thousands of people have died of the medication. Blood Feud recounts how two super-salesmen sacrificed their careers to become the unlikely whistleblowers on a pharmaceutical miracle that became a human disaster. A thrilling story that cries out to become a movie.

Library Journal
Sharp (In Good Faith) tells an engaging tale of intrigue, deceit, and pressure for profit in the American pharmaceutical industry. She traces the history of the drug Procrit, a once widely prescribed drug marketed to cancer, HIV, and dialysis patients and prescribed as a fatigue reliever. Two pharmaceutical companies, Amgen and Ortho (a division of Johnson and Johnson), owned the licensing rights to Procrit and each had purview over certain areas of the drug's use. Drawing on extensive interviews with an Ortho salesman, Sharp shows how the companies manipulated the FDA approval processes, enticed doctors, and pressed for ever wider uses for the drug. In so doing she paints a vivid picture of a pharmaceutical industry culture that values sales and revenues above all. VERDICT A page-turner, this alarming chronicle of profit seeking in American medicine will appeal to all who are invested in the health care they receive or the drugs they're prescribed. [See Prepub Alert, 3/21/11.]—A.W. Klink, Duke Univ., Durham, NC
Library Journal
Appearing under various brand names, Johnson & Johnson's Procrit is a blood booster that has racked up $11 billion in global sales and is Medicare's most reimbursed drug. But it can work too well, causing such a sudden burst of blood-cell growth that patients die painful deaths, and it's great food for cancer. Journalist Sharp tells the story of sales rep Mark Duxbury, who challenged the wisdom of selling Procrit and, after testifying in a closed court, was hounded from his job. The case against Johnson & Johnson is now back in court, with A Civil Action's Jan Schlichtmann leading the charge. Even the briefest excerpt suggests that this will be queasy but worthwhile reading.
From the Publisher

"Sharp tells the story of sales rep Mark Duxbury, who challenged the wisdom of selling Procrit and, after testifying in a closed court, was hounded from his job." ---Library Journal
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780525952404
  • Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
  • Publication date: 9/20/2011
  • Pages: 432
  • Sales rank: 686,380
  • Product dimensions: 9.22 (w) x 6.20 (h) x 1.36 (d)

Meet the Author

Kathleen Sharp is a journalist whose work has appeared in Vanity Fair, The New York Times Magazine, and many other publications; she has won six awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, among other honors. She lives in Santa Barbara, California.

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Sort by: Showing all of 5 Customer Reviews

  • Posted October 12, 2011

    The Most Fun You'll Ever Have Being Horrified

    The best John Grisham novel you've ever read isn't by John Grisham, and isn't a novel. It's by Kathleen Sharp, and it's called "Blood Feud." All the elements of a great "airport thriller" are here -- the well-meaning good-guy characters who get sucked into a horrible conspiracy to hide the truth, the evil corporate enterprise desperate to inflate the bottom line with a product that is literally killing people, and the questions -- will the truth come out? Will justice triumph? Can it? With her sharp prose, great eye for detail and talent for crafting the narrative, Kathleen Sharp draws you into the story and leaves you with a sinking feel in the pit of your stomach. This happened. We consumers are virtually defenseless against the Big Pharma juggernaut. Maybe this book will be a first step in changing the system. Let's hope so.

    2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 8, 2012

    Drug sales reality

    This book hits the healthcare industry right in the gut. Could not be me factual for readers. Drug companies and doctors, hospitals and insurance companies do not want you to read. So you should! I have been a sales rep for 20 years and its right on the mark.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted October 29, 2011

    OK

    I kept waiting for something to happen. I was hoping for more story line I guess and felt there were too many facts that the average person didn't really need to know. It does make you think about how our health is in the hands of the sales person and what a doc. will to for a buck! Worth the read just a little slow.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted January 4, 2012

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 17, 2011

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