Why a Pharmaceutical Whistleblower Whose Career Was Shattered Continues to Sign the “Patient is Dying” petition
I should have done the right thing.”…
Ms. Maru Kobayashi, whose X (formerly Twitter) account name is “Maru Kobayashi,” is suing because she was unfairly treated by the company, including having her job cut off after she made a public-interest report about the company’s fraud.
The incident began when Ms. Kobayashi noticed irregularities related to Soliris, a drug indicated for paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), shortly after she joined the company. Mr. Kobayashi reported and consulted with his supervisor and reported the matter internally, but was subjected to power harassment and was recommended to resign. The situation worsened from there.
Colleagues…demotion, reassignment, and retirement interference create an atmosphere in which it is impossible to speak up.
It is a tragic story that sounds like something out of a movie or drama, but when asked if there was no option but to consult with colleagues and others to fight together, Mr. Kobayashi explains, “The patient’s death was a result of an alert from the academic society.
When I asked him if there was no option but to consult with colleagues and fight together, he replied, “When the alert from the society was issued in 2002, some of the MCCs in the company took it very seriously and tried to form an MCC association, saying that they wanted to unite.
But the company squashed that as a kind of union busting. The person who spoke up at the meeting to say that he was being criticized by customers and the person who voiced whether there was evidence for off-label use were both advised by the company to resign and are no longer with the company. The company has reassigned employees in the 9th grade to the 8th grade and assigned them to the PMS department, which has created an atmosphere where they cannot speak out even if they disagree with what the company is doing.
Still, everyone had families and their own lives, and some employees advised our mutual supervisor to return me to my former MCC position for my sake. For that I am truly grateful.”
The risk was too great for an individual to take, but I asked him if he had thought to report the incident anonymously.
I had reported the matter internally first, so the company could easily guess that it was me who had reported the matter to the MHLW.
Conversely, since I had reported the matter internally to the company and to the parent company in the U.S., it should have been easy for the company to guess that I was the one who reported the matter to the MHLW, but the court ruled that ‘there must be evidence that the reassignment was in retaliation for the report.
In the first place, there is no way that a company that would commit fraud would say, ‘You reported in the public interest, so you should go to the outcast room. There was no way they would have that kind of evidence.”
So, did you ever consider leaking anonymously to the media?
‘Even if you do report it to the press, sometimes it doesn’t get reported, and sometimes the company doesn’t care.
For example, in the case of B-to-C marketing, where the business target is general consumers, such as beverage manufacturers, news coverage can be damaging to the company, such as a boycott, but Alexion’s clients are hospitals and B-to-B, so in some aspects they don’t care so much if there are news reports.
In fact, at the time of the work drying lawsuit in January, Alexion’s fraud was also reported in three trade newspapers, the Kagawa edition of Asahi Shimbun, and Setonaikai Broadcasting, but the company has announced internally that ‘our repetition is improving’ as its first quarter performance.
The possibility of changing jobs also puts me in a difficult situation…
What about going to another company and starting over as an MR again?
MR is a profession that requires certification, and in order to renew that certification, you need to complete two types of training: basic education on the MR Learning Portal, which you can do by self-study, and practical training at the company.
I have repeatedly asked the company to allow me to take the training, but they won’t let me participate in the practical education, and I am unable to renew my certification as before (it will be a limited MR basic education certificate), which makes it difficult for me to change jobs to other companies.”
While the whistleblower report that Mr. Kobayashi made is of great significance, the individual sacrifice is too great.
What if someone discovers a company’s wrongdoing and cannot overlook it? Mr. Kobayashi says, based on his own experience.
I would suggest that anyone who becomes aware of any wrongdoing or problems at the company should first make a record of it.
Secondly, they should consider what to do in the event that no appropriate action is taken after an internal report is made. Can a whistleblower survive in a company that covers up whistleblowing? It is better to consider whether there are matters that could be reported to outside parties before deciding on a course of action, in case they are covered up.
It is also very stressful, so we recommend that you have a family doctor in case you become ill due to stress.
He also points out the problems with the current Whistleblower Protection Act as follows.
Article 11 of the Whistleblower Protection Act states that necessary measures must be taken, and although companies of a certain size have established whistleblower hotlines, they do not always respond appropriately.
Although the Whistleblower Protection Act prohibits dismissal or adverse disposition, it is necessary to prove in court that the victim was disadvantaged by the report. I feel that proving this is extremely difficult and is akin to so-called “devil’s proof.
In my case, I reported the incident to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW), which issued administrative guidance to the company and instructions to revise the attached documents, and I was reassigned shortly thereafter.
The court did not infer an improper motive,” said Yukihiko Yasuhara, attorney representing the company.
I think the original purpose of the whistle-blowing system is to encourage the company’s self-cleansing process by allowing employees to voice their concerns, which would otherwise be difficult to do.
However, I feel that the actual function of the whistleblower protection system is to reveal the dissatisfied and dangerous elements within the company.
I think the Whistleblower Protection Act is supposed to encourage whistleblowing by creating a whistleblower system for the public interest and that whistleblowers will not be disadvantaged if they report in the public interest, but in reality, many are disadvantaged.
The reason why we lost the case in this case is because it is the company’s authority and the company’s discretion where to place the employee. Whether it is whistleblowing or public interest whistleblowing, the original purpose of the system is not being lived up to. I feel that if nothing is done, these systems will die.
The real reason for “job drying” is…
He adds that although “job drying” is retaliation for whistleblowing and whistleblowing, it does not mean they don’t want to give you a job.
If you give them a job, you give them information, and that’s what they’re afraid of. So in order not to give information, you don’t give work.
The company, the employer, is obligated to pay wages, but legally, there is no ‘obligation to give work. Whether it is good or bad is another story. The flip side of this is that there is no right on the part of the worker to demand work.
But, of course, it does not mean that you can make them do anything, and not giving them work in retaliation for whistleblowing, as in this case, is not permissible, but the general logic is that there would be no right to claim work or obligation to give them work. There is a legal barrier in the courts that cannot be crossed so easily.
In this context, we would like to support the aspirations of people like Ms. Kobayashi by revising the system, and we would like to support the whistleblower system so that it can fulfill its original meaning and function as it should.
I have never regretted my whistleblowing. I have never regretted my whistleblowing, because it is a matter in which a patient died.
When asked if he had any regrets about sacrificing himself and his career for the sake of whistleblowing, Mr. Kobayashi said, “I have never regretted whistleblowing.
I have never regretted my decision to file a whistleblower report. I have never regretted my decision to file a whistleblower report, because it was a matter in which a patient died.
When I interviewed for a job as a medical representative, I told them, ‘Only when the product, which is the medicine itself, is combined with information about the medicine can it be effective as a proper drug. So I want to help patients through my job of providing that information.
I said the same thing during the interview for Alexion’s MCC. I can’t just stand by and watch as off-label patients are dying without the right information.”
However, he also divulged this painful thought with …….
I think I was naive when I said during the interview with the MHLW that I would take care of any disadvantages because of the whistleblower protection system. I had no idea that the Whistleblower Protection Act would be so useless.
That is why I started a petition drive to revise the Whistleblower Protection Act so that whistleblowers after me will not have their careers ruined like I did.
Whistleblowing is for others, not yourself. I don’t want that to jeopardize my career.”
Since January, the company has had Kobayashi do simple work for less than one hour per day, and at the first date of her lawsuit, held on the web on April 5, the company took the position of contesting the case. In addition, over 1,600 signatures have now been collected for the “revision of the Whistleblower Protection Act.
Interview and text by： Wakako Takou
