David Franklin (scientist)
| David Franklin | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1961 (age 55–56) Rhode Island, United States |
| Residence | Hopkinton, Massachusetts |
| Citizenship | United States of America |
| Fields |
Biotechnology/Entrepreneurship Evidence-based medicine Dempster–Shafer theory Decision theory Complex adaptive system |
| Institutions |
BSX IDXX Parke-Davis |
| Alma mater |
University of Rhode Island (doctoral) Harvard Medical School (Post-doctoral) |
| Doctoral advisor | Paul Cohen |
| Other academic advisors | Barbara Bierer Jamie Ferreira |
| Known for | Precedent setting stance against pharmaceutical industry fraud |
| Influences |
T. M. Scanlon Thomas Nagel Jay Wright Forrester |
| Notable awards |
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Abraham Fellowship in Pediatric Oncology National Research Service Award |
David Franklin is an American microbiologist and former fellow of Harvard Medical School who while employed by Parke-Davis filed the 1996 whistleblower lawsuit exposing their illegal promotion of Neurontin (gabapentin) for off-label uses. Franklin's suit, filed on behalf of the citizens of the United States under the qui tam provisions of US federal and state law, uncovered illegal pharmaceutical industry practices and created new legal precedent that resulted in a cascade of criminal convictions and civil and criminal penalties against Pfizer and several other pharmaceutical companies totalling more than $7 billion. Civil cases also followed Franklin v. Parke-Davis. Insurance companies, led by Kaiser Permanente, sued Pfizer for fraud and violation of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act; the Kaiser case settled in April 2014 after Pfizer's appeal at the US Supreme Court was rejected.Franklin v. Pfizer also spawned more than a thousand wrongful death (suicide) suits associated with use of Neurontin. Numerous books have addressed the social, economic and healthcare implications of Dr. Franklin's stance and actions. The settlement was the first off-label promotion settlement under the False Claims Act.
Franklin's suit, filed under the False Claims Act, claimed that Parke-Davis (since acquired by Pfizer) had used fraudulent scientific evidence supported by "tens of thousands of payments" to doctors for "consultations" and "studies" to encourage them to prescribe the drug for conditions including migraine, bipolar disorder and attention deficit disorder, even though it was approved for use only as adjunctive treatment in patients with partial seizures and postherpetic neuralgia. Prescribing a drug for such off-label use was not itself illegal, but promoting such use was prohibited by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and federal law.
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