Chutes & Ladders: Pfizer fires whistle-blowing vice president

Pfizer fired one of its vice presidents of marketing after he engaged in a long-running campaign against the company's drug pricing policies. He was handed his pink slip after a judge unsealed a two-year-old lawsuit Peter Rost had filed claiming that a Pfizer unit had illegally promoted the use of human growth hormone for improper uses. Pfizer says that the lawsuit was simply "opportunistic," with Rost looking to cash in on a whistle-blower's cut of any money that could be recovered by the government. Rost says he brought the suit only after Pfizer repeatedly spurned his attempts to reveal to the FDA how the growth hormone was being touted. Rost appeared on 60 Minutes last summer to criticize drug companies' pricing policies.

- read this article from The New York Times for more information