Looking to end weeks of drama over an accounting scandal, Alexion Pharmaceuticals disclosed that senior management pressured employees to convince customers to order its key medicine in order to meet financial targets. The drug maker also sought to reassure Wall Street that the financial impact was limited, but some analysts called for more transparency and suggested the episode is a cautionary tale for the pharmaceutical industry.
The admission, which was contained in a regulatory filing made late Wednesday, followed an extraordinary episode that began in November, when an unnamed employee charged the drug maker engaged in fraud to hawk the Soliris rare disease treatment. The medicine generated $2.6 billion in revenue last year and currently accounts for more than 90 percent of company sales.
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