“The biggest Big Pharma success story last week was described in the headline ‘FDA panel backs Pfizer HIV drug.’ The drug is maraviroc, and it will be the first CCR5 receptor antagonist on the market. This group of drugs blocks a secondary but crucial doorway typically used by the human immunodeficiency virus to enter white blood cells. Barbara Ryan, analyst for Deutsche Bank North America, projects that annual sales will peak at $500 million by 2011. But now there’s a fly in Pfizer’s ointment; an internal whistleblower, whom we’ll call Jane Roe. She claims that Pfizer used the HIV sales force to illegally promote the drug to doctors before approval.” (04/30/07)