Drug Makers’ Feared Enemy Switches Sides, as Their Lawyer

[spanone]

chalk up big win for big pharma...

******************



Michael K. Loucks was arguably the nation’s most influential prosecutor of health care fraud.

He racked up numerous convictions and mega-settlements in nearly a quarter-century, using whistle-blowers and secret grand juries to pressure major pharmaceutical and health companies into ending illegal practices like kickbacks to doctors and misuse of blockbuster drugs.

Once described as a cross between a firebrand preacher and a charismatic litigator, Mr. Loucks burnished a reputation aptly captured in a Fortune magazine headline: “Why Do Drug Companies Fear This Man? Maybe because he’s declared all-out war on cheats in the drug industry.”

But a year and a half ago, Mr. Loucks, a Republican, left the United States attorney’s office in Boston after he was passed over for the top post and President Obama appointed a Democrat. Instead, Mr. Loucks joined Skadden, Arps last July, and has startled former allies by emerging in recent months as zealous a corporate defender as he was a prosecutor, complete with proposals seeking more lenient treatment for the medical companies he once vilified.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/05/business/05switch.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. Sounds like he was pissed at losing the promotion.

I get that a good lawyer has to see both sides of the issue.
But to be able to use the law first on one side and then the other?

Doesn't feel "right " somehow.

[spanone]

3. i guess he was only going after pharmaceutical compaines as long as it kept advancing his career

not for any silly moral reasons

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Switching sides doesn't necessarily mean that he'll win every case against Big Pharma.

He's limited by the law and the facts.

[Boojatta]

5. Marketing efforts are limited by law, imagination, marketing budgets, etc.

Tobacco Company Hires Margaret Thatcher as Consultant
July 19, 1992|From Associated Press

The Philip Morris tobacco company is hiring former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, a nonsmoker, for $1 million to serve as its international political consultant, the Sunday Times said.

The paper said Philip Morris, the world's largest tobacco company, will seek her advice "on controversial issues, including the penetration of tobacco markets in Eastern Europe and the Third World."

Link:
http://articles.latimes.com/1992-07-19/news/mn-4763_1_margaret-thatcher

[KT2000]

4. would love to see

his signing bonus, yearly income and yearly bonus.