Evil things going on at Astellas

To Poster# 119 - You are so "dead on" about HR and Compliance! When you call them, they give the impression that they are listening VERY attentively and seriously - often repeating what you say to GIVE the impression that they are getting everything down word for word. How about this line they give: "So if I understand you correctly you said......". Am I right? They really make you believe that you have an advocate on the other end!
All the while, I now imagine them rolling their eyes, thinking: "Here's another one calling to report some corruption/violation etc..."
Once the call concludes, you are convinced that you've been heard and that your complaint will be followed up on. You are then told: "I'll follow up with you once my investigation concludes..." Am I right again??
The next thing that happens? You hear NOTHING. Suddenly, you (the caller) become the target of an investigation, you are now under the microscope, your life becomes a living hell, suddenly you are being questioned about everything....
Something like a PIP happens to you, or your gas receipts are compared to your calls for the day, or your call entries are checked etc....OR any of the other tactics the managers have at their disposal to ruin you!! We all know this exists - they think we're stupid!!
Finally, you are "managed out" of the company.
Poster#119 is ABSOLUTELY RIGHT - Record the call and have a Lawyer listening as well!!!
 






I've been reading these posts for years and I think you can summarize almost every negative comment into a couple categories:

1. Some posters are not happy with their direct manager. Seems typical for any company, and no doubt there are some bad managers like there are everywhere. I feel for you if that's the case - hopefully their mgr will catch on eventually, they usually do.

2. Some posters feel that they have heard from enough others to believe that there is a HQ (perhaps HR) driven program underway to push out numbers of reps through 'harassment', improvement plans or outright firing. I suppose this could be a result of the focus on retaining only 'high performers', and in that case it makes sense that these incidents are increasing. In some cases, I agree the wrong folks could be targeted (especially if they have one of those bad managers) but in general its probably good for the company in these competitive times. Good for my PIP points, anyway.

3. Some posters believe there is 'corruption' and ethical violations going on. Yet I have yet to see in any post a single real example of this, and it's getting frustrating to hear these without any evidence. The Vesicare warning letter was typical of a marketing error, not an intential ethical breach - hell, if that's the only intended corruption then you need to rethink why and what would make a violation worthwhile.

So PLEASE, prove me wrong about #3 - can just one of you out there crying about calling the FDA share the details? Just one?

So, to those posters asking about whether you should work at Astellas, I say vehemently yes. It's a hardworking company, with issues like everyone else, but with a lot of promise and some brilliant folks sprinkled around in mgmt and the field as well. I enjoy it.

HOW"S THIS? Should managers suggest fraudulently having dr's write scripts for your friends and family to make the numbers go up? Or how about the same manager actually filling a script for a favorite rep? What a joke
 






I encourage anyone that is aware of the large scale corruption at Astellas to contact the FDA. Do not go to the compliance group. Prior experience has shown that they will immediately begin by destroying any evidence that they can find. And compliance will not protect you from retaliation. HR is a waste of time also. The agents at the FDA will be very happy to speak with you concerning Astellas. All complaints are taken seriously. All complaints are fully investigated.

U.S Food And Drug Administration
Office of Criminal Investigations
901 Warrenville Road
Suite 360
Lisle, IL 60532

TEL. 1-800-521-5782

Best advice concerning this garbage dump of a company I have seen.
 






This extensive thread provides all the information one needs to have concerning this third rate completely corrupt pharma company.

Trying to help others here; don't accept a postion here. This company is a pit of corruption. HR, Compliance, Legal, management staff utterly corrupt.

This company lies about everything; submissions, turnover, pipeline, etc., etc., etc.
 






I encourage anyone that is aware of the large scale corruption at Astellas to contact the FDA. Do not go to the compliance group. Prior experience has shown that they will immediately begin by destroying any evidence that they can find. And compliance will not protect you from retaliation. HR is a waste of time also. The agents at the FDA will be very happy to speak with you concerning Astellas. All complaints are taken seriously. All complaints are fully investigated.

U.S Food And Drug Administration
Office of Criminal Investigations
901 Warrenville Road
Suite 360
Lisle, IL 60532

TEL. 1-800-521-5782

Im just seeing this post.....great one and should be posted on every big pharma board!! especially, Abbott, Roche, JNJ Boehringer Ingelheim, the most!
 






If anyone wants to know the truth of the DEEP levels of abuse of employees and the massive disregard for law(s) on a daily basis, just read this thread which has been up for what 4 or 5 years now.
 






encourage anyone that is aware of the large scale corruption at Astellas to contact the FDA. Do not go to the compliance group. Prior experience has shown that they will immediately begin by destroying any evidence that they can find. And compliance will not protect you from retaliation. HR is a waste of time also. The agents at the FDA will be very happy to speak with you concerning Astellas. All complaints are taken seriously. All complaints are fully investigated.

U.S Food And Drug Administration
Office of Criminal Investigations
901 Warrenville Road
Suite 360
Lisle, IL 60532

TEL. 1-800-521-5782

You may also want to send a letter or email to your congressmen or senators. If you are reporting that federal regulations (laws) are being broken, (non-compliant actions) their staffs must pursue your letter through the appropriate government enforcement agencies (Justice Dept., FDA, etc.) to protect themselves as holders of public office. Some ultra conservative cogressmen and senators staffs might just bury you email/letter, but most will have their staff pursue it properly. Sometimes democracy works; sometimes the (smart/active) little guys win.

I would also start printing out any helpful emails detailing the deep corruption at astellas. My experience is that the managers/crimminals running astellas are incredibly stupidly arrogant and do detail large scale non-compliant (law breaking) actions in sometimes extensive email chains. Be careful once the management /crimminals are on to you, they will have the crooked compliance group wipe out your entire email database (a crimminal act).

Good advice yesterday and today.

And TODAY!
 






First, it is not correct that “at will” employees can be terminated for “any” reason. While most people, lawyers and judges seem to believe that, it is a very incorrect statement. What is true is that “at will” employees can be terminated for “any proper” reason. So, employers cannot terminate employees for improper reasons, such as discrimination, retaliation, harassment, because they will not engage in improper or illegal behavior, and/or many other “improper” reasons.

Second, employers are not required to pay severance when someone is terminated, but when severance is paid, it is not due to any “requirement.” Rather, severance is paid to reduce risks, including risks that employees will claim they were fired for “improper” reasons.

Performance Improvement Plans are almost always instituted (a) to create a seemingly “proper” reason (and paper trail) to fire someone (b) in order to deny them severance, and possibly even unemployment benefits.

By instituting Performance Improvement Plans (or “PIP’s”), employers (i) humiliate, (ii) infuriate, and (iii) intimidate employees. Then, as a direct result:

• Often after a PIP, an employee will quit in disgust; presto: no severance and even no unemployment benefits, and the employer does not have to explain to anyone why they wanted the employee to leave.
• Often after a PIP, an employee will feel intimidated, and simply accept his or her termination; presto: no employee request or expectation of severance, and the employee will be too intimidated to ask for a reason for his or her being singled out.
• Often, after a PIP, an employee will feel infuriated, and either shout or engage in some other bad conduct; presto: they are then fired for “cause” and given no severance and not entitled to unemployment benefits.
• Often after a PIP, HR will say to an employee, “You know, your resume would look so much better if you resigned, than were fired; we will ‘let you’ resign, as a favor.” Presto: no severance, no unemployment benefits, and the employer does not have to give a reason for pushing the employee out.
• Often, after a PIP, HR will say to an employee: “If you resign, in the future you may come back and work for this company. But if you are fired for performance reasons, you can never come back.” Presto: the employee quits, without request or expectation of severance, and is even denied unemployment benefits.
• Often, after a PIP, HR will say to an employee, “If you resign we can give you a neutral reference, and maybe we will even not contest your application for unemployment.” Presto: no severance, and no need to provide a reason for wanting an employee to leave.

So, many times PIP’s are used to hide improper reasons for wanting an employee to leave, when the real reason is improper. Also, using PIP’s helps employers reduce severance costs, and even lowers their unemployment insurance premiums, which are based on how many of their employees collect unemployment benefits.

While some Performance Improvement Plans are honest and in good faith, such good faith use of PIP’s is quite rare. Most are false and fraudulent, and so very upsetting. I believe it is the humiliating, the infuriating and the intimidating effects of the vast majority of Performance Improvement Plans that are the source of their power for employers, and the essence of their evil.

This is a excellent summary of what astellas does as a matter of daily, weekly routine to eliminate employees. Accept a job with astellas, and in 6 months to a year, you will feel like a fool when this happens to you, since you were warned by all the quality people on cafepharma.
 






This extensive thread provides all the information one needs to have concerning this third rate completely corrupt pharma company.

Trying to help others here; don't accept a postion here. This company is a pit of corruption. HR, Compliance, Legal, management staff utterly corrupt.

This company lies about everything; submissions, turnover, pipeline, etc., etc., etc.

4 year veteran: True enough.
 






Ive been here for six years and I have seen the absolute worst things happen. I was shocked when top transplant people were let go, supposedly over an expense report for one hundred dollars. Good hospital area director let go, for a trumped up charge.
And talented people are leaving every month, many of the best of our company. One of the best managers weve ever had left two weeks ago because of the things that are allowed to happen here.
Keep your eyes open to the talent who is asked to leave and to the talent that just walks out. Really watch and see. It is an indication of where we are headed, and I don't like it.
 






Ive been here for six years and I have seen the absolute worst things happen. I was shocked when top transplant people were let go, supposedly over an expense report for one hundred dollars. Good hospital area director let go, for a trumped up charge.
And talented people are leaving every month, many of the best of our company. One of the best managers weve ever had left two weeks ago because of the things that are allowed to happen here.
Keep your eyes open to the talent who is asked to leave and to the talent that just walks out. Really watch and see. It is an indication of where we are headed, and I don't like it.

Interesting observation! All the "dead wood" (particularly specialty managers) seem to "stay the course". If you are unaffected by these recent forced resignations/firings and you remain employed here, DO NOT BRAG! It is not because of your "talent" or "skills", it's because you are a willing participant to the miscarriages of justice going on here!
 






I definitely agree with the above Poster -- go directly to the FDA -- Years ago, on the East Coast, I worked at another pharmaceutical company (major, big one) and they were violating FDA regulations. I made the mistake of going to my Manager and expressing my concerns about these violations. What do you think happened to me? They made my life a living "H" and, in the end, when they had major lay-offs, I was one of the people who received a pink slip along with over 2,000 employees. I agree with the above Poster -- Human Resources (HR) is not going to do a damn thing for you. Depending upon what kind of manager you have you may or may not want to share the information withh your manager. Beware: If you have a manager that cannot be trusted or is UNETHICAL, forget about going to your manager all together! He/She may end up showing you the door, because they will view you as a "whistleblower." You cannot have a whistleblower working there. There are lots of things that they can cover up or do (before the FDA can start an investigation at the company). The compliance group is hit or miss there. If lots of EVIL THINGS are going on at Astellas, that are not ethical and out of compliance with the FDA, go directly to the FDA as soon as possible. PATIENT SAFETY is number one!
 






I left the company in 2007. I can see from reading this thread that the company has not changed one bit. Corruption is still alive and well over there. Not surprised. The saga continues. Is Astellas Ethical? Is it an honest company? Does it treat its employees with respect, loyalty and candor? No, no and no.
 
























Interesting observation! All the "dead wood" (particularly specialty managers) seem to "stay the course". If you are unaffected by these recent forced resignations/firings and you remain employed here, DO NOT BRAG! It is not because of your "talent" or "skills", it's because you are a willing participant to the miscarriages of justice going on here!


Well said. It isn't worth it. The only ones still on board are the bottom feeders or passives willing to suck tit for a pay check.
 






Well said. It isn't worth it. The only ones still on board are the bottom feeders or passives willing to suck tit for a pay check.
Look, unless you own your own company and are your own boss, you suck tit for a paycheck! That's how it works. As for The Ass, if you have a good boss, your job and your life are probably pretty good. If not, it sucks. Just like anywhere else. As a general rule, this company overpays, and most people don't have to work very hard. So kwitcherbitchin.
 






Look, unless you own your own company and are your own boss, you suck tit for a paycheck! That's how it works. As for The Ass, if you have a good boss, your job and your life are probably pretty good. If not, it sucks. Just like anywhere else. As a general rule, this company overpays, and most people don't have to work very hard. So kwitcherbitchin.

It's comments like this from people like you, that have ruined this industry. Professional people with moral, honesty, and integrity don't talk like this, and wouldn't DREAM of putting it in writing.
You obviously are new to the industry and are not equipped to comment on the things that are written above!
 






It's comments like this from people like you, that have ruined this industry. Professional people with moral, honesty, and integrity don't talk like this, and wouldn't DREAM of putting it in writing.
You obviously are new to the industry and are not equipped to comment on the things that are written above!
Keep dreaming! This industry was ruined when big pharma geniuses hired a bunch, and I mean a bunch (like thousands) of mildly educated clones to run around and pester doctors 3 and 4 times a week about their Blockbuster Drug. And I defy you to find fault with my statements. If you have a good boss, your life is generally OK. If your boss is an asshole, your life sucks. Pretty much the same as in any job. To avoid the above, be your own boss. When you work for a company, particularly a soft company like The Ass, you suckle from the teat. Sorry if my putting it in writing offends you. No I'm not.