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New York Post
4 days ago
- Business
- New York Post
How one woman took on ‘Big Pharma' and (mostly) won
As a sales rep for drug manufacturers Questcor, Lisa Pratta always suspected the company's business practices weren't just immoral but illegal, too, as she explains in 'False Claims — One Insider's Impossible Battle Against Big Pharma Corruption' (William Morrow). But this was the final straw. 8 Lisa Pratta at her home In New Jersey. In 2011, Pratta began to spy on her employer Questcor, which she believed was overcharging patients by thousands of dollars for their medication Acthar. Stephen Yang Advertisement At a patient event in Freehold, NJ, in August 2011, a young woman walking with a cane asked Pratta if the drug she sold, Acthar, could help with her multiple sclerosis. When the woman mentioned she was a mother to two babies and also had been diagnosed with lymphoma, Pratta broke down. 'I couldn't say anything,' Pratta tells The Post. 'I just went to the ladies' room and cried. 'And that was the turning point. I knew my days of keeping my mouth shut were over.' Advertisement Pratta began working for Questcor in 2010 as the sales rep in the Northeast region for Acthar, a drug which helped relieve autoimmune and inflammatory disorders. 'If prescribed correctly, Acthar could help people walk again. And talk again,' writes Pratta. But, she adds, 'Questcor made more money when it was prescribed incorrectly.' They would do anything to sell Acthar. Advertisement From paying doctors to prescribe it to using bogus research studies proclaiming its miraculous efficacy, they were so successful that Achtar's price rose from $40 per vial in 2000 to nearly $39,000 in 2019 — an increase of 97,000%. Pratta's determination to do the right thing was partly the result of a traumatic childhood tainted by physical and sexual abuse. 8 Acthar's price rose from $40 per vial in 2000 to nearly $39,000 in 2019 — an increase of 97,000%. Acthar 'I had to fight for myself and develop that inner strength,' she says. 'I needed tenacity.' Advertisement That tenacity was put to the test when Pratta began to uncover the extent of Questcor's corruption. Some sales reps were making up to $4 million a year and, in turn, kept the physicians doing their bidding in a life of luxury. 'The greed had just taken over. They took them on scuba diving trips and bought clothes and shoes for their wives. One guy bought his doctor a brand new Armani suit and expensed it to Questcor,' she recalls. 'And I'm going to TJ Maxx to buy my shoes.' Though she had deliberated about exposing Questcor, Pratta worried about the ramifications. 'That's all I could think about,' she says. 'I was a single parent, mother of a special needs son and had a ton of debt from my divorce. 'The last thing I needed was to be fired and homeless.' The impetus to act came from former colleague, Pete Keller, who, also concerned about Questcor's methods, had decided to tell the authorities. 8 According to attorney Ross Begelman, Pratta served as a 'relator,' feeding information from her company to the Federal government. Javerbaum Wurgaft Now he needed Pratta, who was still working there, to act as a 'relator' and feed information to lawyers, including health care fraud attorneys Marc Orlow and Ross Begelman. Advertisement To make the case, Pratta compiled as much evidence as possible, surreptitiously making notes at sales meetings and patient programs. 'I used to write notes on the palm of my hand under the table,' she explains. 'If I was at a cocktail party and somebody confessed what they were doing was bribery, I would write it on a napkin in the bathroom or even on my pants. 'I ruined a lot of suits.' Given the financial might of the industry she was battling, Pratta became acutely aware of her own safety. Advertisement Before she turned whistleblower, Pratta researched other relators to see what happened to them. 'Just to see if anybody was murdered,' she explains. 'You know, a mysterious accident or a car blowing up.' 8 In 2012, the Department of Justice began an investigation into Questcor. AP Consequently, she become hyper-vigilant. 'I would see cars sitting at the end of my block and I just got paranoid,' she says. 'I was watching even more when I went in stores or the parking lot. I got a dashcam, too.' Advertisement In January 2012, the Department of Justice began a preliminary investigation into Questcor. Soon, federal agents began calling at Pratta's colleagues' homes and she had to feign shock. But, she writes, 'If I was the only one in the company who didn't get an early-morning visit from the Feds, that wasn't exactly helping me keep my cover.' Soon, Pratta's clandestine role became second nature to her. 'It didn't feel like I was still working for the government. It was like being married to my ex — they were never around, and there was no communication,' she writes. After Questcor was acquired by Irish pharma-giant Mallinckrodt in 2014, pressure to deliver even higher sales increased exponentially and with it came even greater disregard for ethics. 8 After Questcor was acquired by Irish pharma-giant Mallinckrodt in 2014, pressure to deliver even higher sales increased exponentially and with it came even greater disregard for ethics. AP Advertisement In 2017, after she was repeatedly bullied by her boss, Pratta went to HR to complain but was fired soon after, although they maintained it was a corporate restructure, just to avoid a wrongful termination case. 'Ironically, I wasn't fired because I was a double agent feeding information to the Department of Justice. Instead, they got rid of me for the offense of daring to speak out about an abusive manager,' she writes. In March 2019, the Department of Justice served a 100-page lawsuit against Mallinckrodt, alleging illegal marketing of Acthar, bribing doctors to boost sales and defrauding government health care programs It also mentioned Pratta's role in the case, meaning her long-held anonymity was now public knowledge. 'I didn't mind that my former bosses knew; I just wished I could have seen their faces when they put it all together. I hoped they felt that their lives were suddenly out of their control. 'The way the Acthar patients felt.' In the wake of the lawsuit, Mallinckrodt filed for bankruptcy, a move which immediately halted all legal action against them, much to Pratta's frustration. Worse still, a member of the New Jersey plumbers' union with MS had his union file a class action lawsuit against Mallinckrodt — and, as Pratta's identity was now revealed, and she was a New Jersey resident, he named her in it. While four of the five defendants were companies, Pratta was the only individual named.= 'The plumbers' union was not messing around,' she writes. 'They were pissed, and rightly so. In 2018, they'd paid $26,100.28 for one dose of Acthar for one of its members.' While that lawsuit against Pratta was ultimately thrown out, 'by the time it was finally dismissed, I was left with almost $42,000 in attorneys' fees,' she says. Nor did Pratta receive anywhere near the amount of compensation she could have been entitled to as a whistleblower. When Mallinckrodt settled out of court in March 2022, agreeing to pay just $26.3 million for violating the False Claims Act — far less than the amount had the case reached trial — it meant Pratta's percentage share was even smaller. Worse still, it would now be paid in installments, once a year for the next eight years. 'In reality, if I averaged it all out, it was as if I'd just stayed employed for another ten years instead of losing my job,' she reflects. 8 Pratta at her home in Jew Jersey with many of the documents and files that supported her cause against Questcor. Stephen Yang For Pratta, though, the long, expensive journey to justice had been worth all the anxiety and sleepless nights. In fact, she has no regrets whatsoever about doing what she did. 'Now I sleep like a baby,' she laughs.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
All of Tom Cruise's 'Mission: Impossible' movies, ranked from worst to best
Tom Cruise has starred in eight "Mission: Impossible" movies since 1992. The actor reprises his role in the 2025 sequel, "The Final Reckoning." Here are all of the "Mission: Impossible" movies, ranked from worst to best. Tom Cruise is taking on one last daring adventure in "Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning," which pits Ethan Hunt against an evil AI that threatens to destroy the world. The actor has been the face of the franchise since the first movie in 1996, and has starred in eight films in total. The Impossible Mission Force (yes, really) first debuted in the "Mission: Impossible" TV series in 1966, which starred Steven Hill and Peter Graves and ran for six seasons until 1973, before it was revived for another two seasons on ABC in 1988. With the franchise set to end with "The Final Reckoning," here are all the "Mission: Impossible" movies, ranked. 8. "Mission: Impossible 2" (2000) "Mission: Impossible 2" should be given way more love than it gets, mainly because the Hong Kong cinema legend John Woo helmed it. Yes, the "Hard Boiled" and "Bullet in the Head" director brought his signature bullet ballet style to the "Mission: Impossible" sequel, with all the slow-motion flair you could ask for. Is it cheesy? Sure. Does the script need some work? Definitely. Is there any smart subtext or meaning underneath all the action? Absolutely not. This is a peak 2000s action movie, and it knows it. "Mission: Impossible 2" is so over the top that once you've made peace with it, it's best to just go along for the ride. Come on, Tom Cruise and Dougray Scott play motorbike chicken with each other before a midair tackle sends them both crashing to the ground. What's not to love? It's the type of vehicular chaos that the "Fast & Furious" franchise's Dominic Toretto would be proud of. Even so, "Mission: Impossible 2" ranks at the bottom of the bunch. 7. "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" (2011) The 2011 film "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" takes the franchise into the modern era. It follows Hunt and his team as they're forced to go on the run when they're framed for bombing the Kremlin. It quickly becomes a race to stop the villainous Kurt Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist), who wants to start a nuclear war so that only the strongest members of humanity will survive. It's this plot that keeps "Ghost Protocol" from ascending the ranking, because, as spy thrillers go, stopping a nuclear war feels predictable, and the film fails to do anything unique with the premise. Plus, there's nothing particularly extraordinary about Hendricks as a baddie. But generic plot devices aside, the film features some brilliant fights and gripping set pieces. The stand-out moment is when Cruise's hero climbs the Burj Khalifa in Dubai with nothing but sticky gloves and rope. One of the most surprising elements of the film is Jeremy Renner's William Brandt, a disgraced former agent who's grappling with the guilt of failing Ethan on a former mission. That sub-plot works very well among the rest of the action, and it's a clever way of injecting a bit of heart into the mission. 6. "Mission: Impossible 3" (2006) Two words: JJ Abrams. The "Lost" and "Fringe" creator made his big screen debut in 2006 with "Mission: Impossible 3," which takes a mid-noughties approach to the Impossible Mission Force and gives it a brutal edge. The sequel pits Ethan, Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), Zhen Lei (Maggie Q), and Declan Gormley (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) against a nefarious arms dealer played by the incomparable Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Part of what elevates "Mission: Impossible 3" from previous films is that it never actually explains what Ethan and the gang are chasing. It's known only by its mysterious codename, the Rabbit's Foot. It could be an infectious disease, a computer virus, a hard drive teeming with currency, or nuclear codes — and that's what makes it so compelling. It's also refreshing to see Ethan settled and in love with Michelle Monahan's Julia Meade. What does married life look like for a superspy? How does that complicate his responsibility to save the world? The sequel feels very busy, as Abrams packs a lot into a tight two-hour run time. And some parts don't quite work, like Ethan's dynamic with his young mentee Lindsey Farris (Keri Russell). But there are some stellar sequences throughout, like the ballistic shoot-out on the bridge, which is an eye-popping piece of action choreography. 5. "Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning" (2025) "Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning" is the sequel to 2023's "Dead Reckoning," and sees Hunt race to stop an assassin known as Gabriel (Esai Morales) from controlling a sentient AI called the Entity. Just to raise the stakes, the Entity has already taken control of the world's nuclear weapons and plans to wipe out humanity. While the 2025 movie is billed as the final entry in the franchise, its story doesn't quite live up to the high expectations set by "Dead Reckoning." The first hour is bogged down by lengthy exposition and generic action movie silliness. That being said, as soon as the action picks up and Cruise embraces his adrenaline junkie persona once more, "The Final Reckoning" provides a breathtaking cinematic experience. Whether it's the suspenseful scuba dive into a wrecked submarine or how Hunt climbs between two biplanes in the sky to fight Gabriel, the film's ambitious sequences deserve to be seen on the big screen. 4. "Mission: Impossible" (1996) Taken from the 1966 TV series of the same name, 1996's "Mission: Impossible" introduces Cruise's Ethan Hunt, a field agent working for Jim Phelps (Jon Voight), the main character from the show. It has audiences instantly on their toes when Ethan's entire team, including Phelps, are assassinated by a double agent in the opening — forcing our hero to go on the run after being framed for their deaths. "Mission: Impossible" earned itself a place in cinema history thanks to the brilliantly intense break-in scene, in which Cruise's Hunt hacks into a CIA mainframe computer while suspended on cables. And of course, the high-octane ending on top of a Channel Tunnel train is a pulse-pounding affair set to the iconic theme music. Cruise effortlessly brings Hunt to life alongside top-notch performances from Voight, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Ving Rhames, which really help sell the paranoid atmosphere of the film 3. "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation" (2015) "Rogue Nation" is where frequent Tom Cruise collaborator Christopher McQuarrie properly put his stamp on the franchise. McQuarrie expands the world in a fascinating way with the introduction of the Syndicate, a vast organization made up of rogue agents from every intelligence agency on the planet. Their mission (should they choose to accept it) is to create disorder and chaos to destabilize the global intelligence community, although their true goals don't become apparent until 2018's "Mission: Impossible - Fallout." Hunt is determined to root out the Syndicate, and its sinister leader, Solomon Lane (Sean Harris). "Rogue Nation" also introduces Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), an enigmatic British agent who has a delicious will-they-won't-they dynamic with Cruise's hero. A brawl in the rigging above an opera stage in Vienna is a stunning highlight, as is Cruise's underwater dive to retrieve a computer chip from a submerged safe. Cruise broke the world record for holding his breath for six minutes while completing that stunt in 2014. 2. "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One" (2023) "Dead Reckoning Part One" sees Hunt's IMF team chasing a key that will lead them to an unstoppable AI that could wreak havoc on the world. And, of course, every government agency in the world wants to get their hands on it, so Hunt and his team are effectively on the run from everyone. "Dead Reckoning's" focus on AI gives it a grounding in the real world, but the film also continues to elevate the sheer scale of action that audiences have come to expect from the "Mission: Impossible" franchise. That jaw-dropping mountain jump at the movie's climax has to be seen to be believed, and it only gets more bonkers after that. It's a testament to Cruise and McQuarrie that the film feels fresh and new — even if the script does drag on at points. Then again, audiences are coming to see Cruise throw himself off a mountain, not to hear Oscar-winning dialogue. 1. "Mission: Impossible - Fallout" (2018) There's no question that McQuarrie's "Mission: Impossible - Fallout" is the best movie in the franchise, which is impressive considering it's the sixth outing for Hunt and the gang. It continues the Syndicate storyline from "Rogue Nation" and dives further into Solomon Lane's scheme. He wants to destabilize the world by irradiating the Siachen Glacier, which supplies water to India, Pakistan, and China. This would kill off a third of the world's population and drastically change society in the process. But most of the story revolves around a CIA and IMF mole who goes by the codename 'John Lark.' The hunt to find this rogue agent crosses the world, introducing the likes of Henry Cavill's CIA agent August Walker and Vanessa Kirby's underworld matriarch, Alanna Mitsopolis. The scope of McQuarrie's movie is massive, and its huge stunts mirror that size. A gobsmacking scene sees Hunt dive with Walker from a plane and parachute into Paris. Cruise shot the stunt alongside a cameraman to properly capture the chaotic dive. Then, of course, there's the film's exhilarating helicopter chase through a New Zealand mountain range — just another example of McQuarrie and Cruise's commitment to filming these stunts in the most jaw-dropping way possible. "Fallout" is a thrilling chapter of the "Mission: Impossible" franchise that deepens the audience's understanding of Cruise's hero while delivering a stunning cinematic experience. Read the original article on Business Insider
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Randy Rainbow Has A Ball Savaging Trump's Cabinet In 'Cinderella' Spoof
If the glass slipper of incompetence fits, Randy Rainbow wants Donald Trump and his cronies to wear it. The song satirist tweaked 'Impossible' from Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella into 'Incompetent!' to sum up the administration ruling our country the past 100 days or so. (Watch the video below.) In a post shared Tuesday, the Emmy- and Grammy-nominated comedian gave his traditional fake interview to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, then lit into him and Trump to begin the song. 'Incompetent! Like the the drunk dude from Fox News sharing war plans over Snapchat,' Rainbow sang. 'Incompetent! Like his boss, dumb as rocks, who's about as useless as his back fat.' ADVERTISEMENT Rainbow spared almost no one in the president's sphere. 'Incompetent! Are his hot head of commerce and his sycophantic AG. Incompetent is his whole freakin' cabinet, all compromised and cagey,' he chirped. 'Felonious crooks should never have power clearly, especially when such lunatics are severely in-com-pe-tent.' Stay in your seat for the adjective-packed climax. Related...
