US whistleblower's $96m payout from GlaxoSmithKline

An American pharmaceuticals worker who blew the whistle on manufacturing failures at GlaxoSmithKline's drug-making factory in Puerto Rico was today rewarded with a $96 million (£60.7 million) payout.

Cheryl Eckard, 51, Glaxo's global quality-assurance manager, spent most of her time working at the British pharma firm's Puerto Rico plant, her lawyer Neil Getnick said.

There she discovered manufacturing problems, including micro-organisms in Glaxo's antibiotic cream Bactroban and Paxil depression pills which lacked the active ingredient.

Getnick said Eckard urged Glaxo managers to improve the manufacturing process, or even close the plant, but was sacked in 2003 for raising the complaints.

Her massive payday stems from a law called the False Claims Act, which allows citizens who know of fraud on the government (in this case, government health schemes paying for Glaxo drugs that turned out to be impure) to sue and take
15-20% of the sum the government recoups.

Glaxo was ordered to pay $750 million to settle the claims. It set aside the money in its second-quarter results, but faces further humiliation at today's findings.