The age of Big Pharma taking advantage of children with impunity could be coming to an end as Texas leads the charge in holding the pharmaceutical industry accountable for crimes against children.
It is starting with Pfizer and its drug partner Tris Pharma, which Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says has been hiding serious manufacturing defects from the public.
"Today, I have filed suit against Pfizer and Tris Pharma for defrauding Texas Medicaid and providing adulterating pharmaceuticals to children," Paxton wrote on X (formerly Twitter) about his latest agenda. "I am horrified by the dishonesty we uncovered in this investigation."
"Pfizer and Tris intentionally concealed and failed to disclose the issues with Quillivant to receive taxpayer-funded benefits through Texas Medicaid, defrauding the state and endangering children."
(Related: In 2022, Paxton signed a women's bill of rights affirming basic biological truths and reaffirming what it means to truly be a woman.)
Big Pharma illegally drugged thousands of Texas children
The case involves a drug called Quillivant that was originally developed by Nextwave Pharmaceuticals, a company that was bought out by Pfizer in 2012. Tris reportedly held a five percent stake in Nextwave at the time it was acquired, and six years later in 2018 Tris acquired Quillivant.
During these years and beyond, Tris, with the support of Pfizer, "knowingly" distributed the drug to children on Medicaid despite "the drug's pattern of failing quality control tests due to flawed manufacturing practices."
Quillivant is sold as a powder that must be reconstituted with water by pharmacists before being prescribed to patients. The directions for reconstitution have changed wildly from what was originally approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to the point that the drug is no longer being dispensed in compliance with the law.
After tests conducted on the original mixing formula proved problematic, Tris tried to tamper with them to make the drug appear safer and more effective than it actually is. Tris lied, in other words, and broke the law in other ways while doing it.
"For years, Tris altered the drug's testing method in violation of federal and state laws to ensure Quillivant passed regulatory hurdles and could continue to be sold," explains a lawsuit filed by Paxton against the drug cartel.
"Despite knowing about these serious problems, Pfizer misrepresented to the Medicaid program that Quillivant was in compliance with federal and state law, and concealed from Medicaid decision-makers the fact that Quillivant was an adulterated drug."
Only because of all these concealments and misrepresentations were Pfizer and Tris able to continue bilking taxpayers for reimbursement through the Medicaid program. And all the while, thousands of Texas children received "an adulterated Schedule II Controlled Dangerous Substance," Paxton's case argues.
Among other crimes, Pfizer and Tris are accused of violating the Texas Medicaid Fraud Prevention Act, now known as the Texas Health Care Program Fraud Prevention Act (THFPA).
In a canned statement, a spokesperson from Tris "categorically" denied all allegations while stating plans to "rigorously defend " against them "in the court of law."
As far as Pfizer goes, the company says it is aware of these allegations and tried to look into them on "multiple occasions," but that it failed to find "any impact on the safety of the product." Like Tris, Pfizer plans to refute all allegations and get the case dismissed as quickly as possible.
All of this came to light thanks to a whistleblower named Tarik Ahmed who headed up the technology division at Tris from 2013 through 2017. There were additional clues brought to the case from Pfizer's 2022 annual report, which was received by prosecutors through a subpoena through the Southern District of New York.
The latest news about Big Pharma's assault on youth can be found at ChemicalViolence.com.
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