Healthcare & PharmaceuticalsEXCLUSIVE Lilly hit by staff accusations, FDA scrutiny at COVID drug factories
Marisa TaylorDan Levine
9 minute read
An Eli Lilly and Company pharmaceutical manufacturing plant is pictured at 50 ImClone Drive in Branchburg, New Jersey, March 5, 2021. REUTERS/Mike Segar
Eli Lilly & Co (LLY.N) employees have accused a factory executive of altering documents required by government regulators in an effort to downplay serious quality control problems at the U.S. plant producing the drugmakerâs COVID-19 treatment, according to an internal Lilly complaint and a source familiar with the matter.
The unsigned report, filed April 8 in Lillyâs confidential employee complaint system and reviewed by Reuters, is the latest sign of manufacturing problems at the drug giant. The complaint asserts that the executive, a top quality official at the companyâs factory in Branchburg, New Jersey, rewrote findings by Lilly technical experts at the plant, which has been under investigation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, to make the conclusions appear more favorable to the company.