False Claims: One Insider's Impossible Battle Against Big Pharma Corruption

by Lisa Pratta

Overview

In Big Pharma, lives are secondary to profit margins. But Lisa Pratta stood her ground—risking everything to expose the lies of a billion-dollar pharmaceutical business mired in deception, greed, and the systemic abuse of both patients and employees

As a rising star in pharmaceutical sales, Lisa Pratta wanted to believe that she was helping improve the lives of people who suffered from illness. But as she climbed the corporate ladder, she uncovered a sinister world of bribery, fraud, and sexual harassment—all papered over with a thin veneer of corporate respectability.

At Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Lisa found herself at a small company with a blockbuster drug that could have been a lifeline for patients suffering from multiple sclerosis—that is, if it was prescribed properly. But instead, Questcor chose profits over patients, training its sales force to push untested treatment regimens with the sole purpose of beating its competition. Lisa recognized this as not only dangerous but highly illegal. In the midst of this controversy, Questcor arbitrarily inflated the drug’s price to a jaw-dropping $28,000 per vial. Torn between her morals and the financial stability the job provided for her special-needs son, Lisa made a decision that would change her life forever: she reported the fraudulent practices of the company to the federal government.

For nearly a decade, she led a double life—feeding insider information to the Department of Justice while enduring the relentless demands of her company to sell their drug using illegal marketing tactics. She faced constant fear of exposure, knowing that the government offered her no protection if her secrets were revealed. Nonetheless, Lisa pressed on, determined to hold Questcor accountable for the laws they were breaking and the lives they were endangering.

This incredible true story offers a sobering look at the unscrupulous sales methods used by America’s corrupt pharmaceutical industry, spotlights the levers they pull to extract ludicrous profits from the sick and dying, and is a page-turning portrait of one woman’s heroic fight against Big Pharma and a mother’s struggle to protect her family.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063371101
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	06/03/2025
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 8.70(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Lisa Pratta was a top-selling pharmaceutical and biotech sales representative for thirty-two years, helping to pave the way for women in the field, only to see the entire industry corrode with sexual harassment and fraud. Lisa was an honors graduate of Albright University before launching her career at pharma giants such as Astra Zeneca, Serono, and Questcor/Mallinckrodt. In 2012, while still employed at Questcor, Lisa became a whistleblower reporting off-label prescriptions and Medicare fraud to the United States government and went undercover for nearly a decade. She is a single mother with a special needs son.

Editorial Reviews

04/14/2025

In this passionate debut, former pharmaceutical sales rep Pratta recounts her efforts to bring one of her employers to justice. After surviving an abusive childhood in New Jersey, Pratta began a career in drug sales in the 1980s. During her first several years in the field, she set annual sales records despite encountering rampant sexism. Her commitment to the industry eroded, however, after she started working for pharmaceutical company Questcor. Shortly after she started the job, Pratta learned Questor was encouraging its salespeople to promote off-label use of multiple sclerosis drug Acthar at excessively high doses in order to juice profits. Pratta’s friend and colleague, Pete Keller, told her that he was going to report Questor’s falsehoods to the feds and convinced Pratta to join him. In the end, Questor’s parent company, Mallinckrodt, agreed to settle with the federal government, though Pratta acknowledges that what disturbed her—“the kickbacks, the bribes, the off-label prescription use”—continues at other companies. Still, her pride in becoming “a person who had the ability to stand up for others” resonates. This is both an illuminating up-close look at how corruption works and a moving account of one person discovering her strength. Agent: Adam Chromy, Movable Type. (June)

Publishers Weekly

"Lisa Pratta’s remarkable account of Big Pharma greed is a testament to her courage as a corporate insider turned whistleblower. False Claims is a page-turning exposè set against the background of Pratta’s steadfast refusal to capitulate to a drug company’s strong-arm pressure. It is a must-read for anyone interested in knowing how America’s drug industry puts profits ahead of patients." — Gerald Posner, author of Pharma: Greed, Lies, and the Poisoning of America

“If you’ve ever wondered why health care is so expensive in the United States, False Claims is a must read. It is an insider’s tale of one drug company’s disregard for scientific, legal, and moral values in its relentless pursuit of profit; a harrowing story of personal transformation into an activist willing to risk her financial and career security to expose the wrongdoing of her employers; and a deep exploration of her own formative experiences that sensitized her to the pain of injustice and left her more willing to go public with this information. I recommend it highly.” — John Abramson, MD, MSc, author of Sickening: How Big Pharma Broke American Health Care and How We Can Repair It

"A pacey, shocking, and moving account of greed in the pharmaceutical industry. Lisa seamlessly weaves her courageous personal story with the eye-opening excess and deceit of Questcor to deftly show the personal toll of whistleblowing and the cost of staying silent. I devoured False Claims in two sittings." — Cara McGoogan, author of Blood Farm: The Explosive Big Pharma Scandal That Altered the AIDS Crisis

"[A] sterling whistleblower procedural. . . . a vice-tight thriller." — The Ankler

"This is both an illuminating up-close look at how corruption works and a moving account of one person discovering her strength." — Publishers Weekly

“[Pratta’s] story and internal conflict are laid out in full, from her idealism about health care at the beginning of her career through her disillusionment and fight to reveal the dangerous, money-driven rot in the system. . . . The realities of America’s profit-driven health care system laid bare by an insider." — Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

2025-04-04
A whistleblower takes on fraud and corruption in U.S. health care.

American life is increasingly defined by pivotal moments. When does one stand up to corruption that harms the vulnerable? For former Big Pharma insider Pratta, that moment came when she saw the sales practices around a breakthrough drug. Her book offers the captivating account of one woman’s turn from high-flying pharmaceutical sales rep to corporate whistleblower. The author guides readers through her decades of working as a top-level sales representative in pharmaceuticals and biotech. As she rises in the industry, mounting red flags within her company prompt her to collaborate with the U.S. Justice Department on a fraud and corruption case against her employer. The story centers on practices in one company as it ramps up a campaign to sell a novel drug to treat multiple sclerosis, but it notes how attendant kickbacks and dishonesty in drug pricing and sales practices are rampant across the industry. Few are spared in this account, and Pratta brings carefully detailed receipts gathered in the decade she spent helping build a federal case against her employer. The whistleblower’s story and internal conflict are laid out in full, from her idealism about health care at the beginning of her career through her disillusionment and fight to reveal the dangerous, money-driven rot in the system. It’s a tale of Pratta’s comingled survival of and dependency on Big Pharma, navigating a male-dominated industry rife with misogyny and sexual harassment while relying on the income her work provides to support her family as a single mother. The professional and the personal are interlaced clearly and with purpose.

The realities of America’s profit-driven health care system laid bare by an insider.

Kirkus Reviews