By Nestor F. Sebastian
FLEMINGTON, N.J. (CN) – Merck & Co. ousted a vaccine specialist who says he refused to illegally market certain pharmaceutical drugs to doctors, the man claims in Hunterdon County Court.
David Turkheimer says he was fired several months after his yearly performance-review meeting with district business manager John Connelly. At that meeting, Connelly asked Turkheimer to sell Merck’s Gardasil HPV drug to a specific doctor, and tell that doctor the drug would lower insurance rates if prescribed.
Connelly told Turkheimer to suggest that the doctor could face litigation if he didn’t prescribe the drug, and that patients could face death if not prescribed with Gardasil, according to the complaint.
Turkheimer, who resides in East Meadow, N.Y., says he expressly told Connelly that such instructions were improper.
After this rebuke, Connelly began to undermine Turkheimer and looked for a way to fire him, according to the complaint.
[Note from SaneVax: This is exactly the kind of pharmaceutical company tactic that will no longer be tolerated by medical consumers. Whether these allegations are true or false is up to the court system. However, the SaneVax Team would like to thank Mr. Turkheimer for having the courage to make the issue public. If more people had his ethics and courage, this type of situation would not happen because everyone would know when it did, people would expose the problem. If Gardasil were as safe, effective and necessary as it is purported to be, Merck would not have to resort to this type of tactics to sell it…..people would be beating down their doors to purchase it.
Thank you Mr. Turkheimer – from the SaneVax Team, and medical consumers around the world. Society needs more people like you!]
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