PLEASE READ, DO NOT COPY AND PASTE ANSWERS OR YOU WILL RECEIVE A THUMBS DOWN. As of June 2013, the largest award given to a single whistleblower in U.S. history went to Cheryl Eckard, a quality assurance manager for GlaxoSmithKline. Sent to visit a GSK plant in Puerto Rico, Ms. Eckard discovered complaints that different drugs were being mixed in the same bottleone boy had been given a double dose of the antidepressant Paxil, for instanceand there had been no effort to recall product or correct the reason for the mix-ups. Her recommendations were strong: stop all shipments from the plant, suspend manufacturing to allow time to resolve the product mix-ups, and notify the FDA. These suggestions were ignored. According to her qui tam lawsuit, Ms. Eckards supervisors were preoccupied with preparing for an FDA inspection that would clear the way for approval of two new drugs. Eventually, after several more trips to the plant in Puerto Rico, Eckard told her boss she could no longer participate in a cover-up of the quality assurance and compliance problems. She was terminated in 2003. She herself went to the FDAs San Juan office to detail her concerns in August of 2003.

QUESTIONS:

1.Research: Find out what kind of case Cheryl Eckard won, and how much she was awarded.

2.What could GlaxoSmithKline have done instead to avoid this expensive outcome?