2012 Whistleblower of the Year Exposed Psycho Pharma Corruption: Continues to Call for Unyielding Accountability

December 30, 2024

With the recent nomination of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, (HHS) the nation’s premier federal health agency, it’s important to remember Kennedy’s rising star began decades ago by exposing fraudulent medical/corporate research and food safety issues. In a sense, Kennedy is a kind of whistleblower on a national level.

But he’s not the only one and, with Kennedy’s rise to power, AbleChild is reminded of another whistleblower, Allen Jones, whose exposure of dirty dealing between the pharmaceutical industry and state mental health agencies needs to be remembered and recognized.

Afterall, it takes courage to stand up to corruption and Jones, not one to shy away from controversy or be strong-armed into walking away, stood up to the behemoth pharmaceutical industry and ultimately protected children in ways they will never fully understand.

In a nutshell, Jones, as an investigator with the Pennsylvania Office of the Inspector General, was tasked with investigating the State’s chief pharmacist, Steve Fiorello, who was reported to have been receiving payments from drug companies. A clear violation of Pennsylvania law. But Jones uncovered a much deeper financial scheme where the money flowing into Fiorello’s unregistered account was also flowing out of it and into an account belonging to the Director of the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation. Jones had no idea that he was about to run head-first into the then controversial Texas Medication Algorithm Project (TMAP).

Basically, TMAP was a system of collecting information about pharmacological management and providing an algorithm-driven mental health management program. In other words, what psychiatric drugs work best for specific mental health diagnoses. Then those chosen drug treatments (algorithm) would be used by state mental health programs. Aside from the fact that there is no one-size-fits-all psychiatric drug regimen, the problem is that TMAP was compromised when Johnson and Johnson and its subsidiary, Janssen, were paying state officials in a number of ways to promote the TMAP.

Promoting TMAP has been called little more “than an off-label marketing program funded by drug companies which used flattery, cushy travel, expensive restaurants and pocketed honoraria to get key state officials to green light switching massive numbers of patients from low-cost mental health drugs to then new atypical antipsychotics, such as Risperdal, that cost ten times as much.” Risperdal, approved for the treatment of bipolar disorder and autism spectrum disorder carries some extreme adverse events including breast growth in men and boys.

Jones took these findings to his superiors and, much to his surprise, was told to leave it alone…it was “too political.” When Jones refused to walk away, he was taken off the case. And soon after would learn that TMAP would be implemented within the State of Pennsylvania.

Not one to turn away from a fight, Jones filed a First Amendment civil rights lawsuit and further told his story to the New York Times. Pennsylvania State officials did not appreciate Jones honesty and summarily fired him. Not only were new lawsuits filed by Jones, but his case drew the interest of the Texas Attorney General’s office (AG). In 2011, the Texas AG, with the help of Jones’ documents, settled with Johnson & Johnson for $158 million and, in fact, three other states filed and settled similar cases.

The culmination of Janssen and Johnson & Johnson’s off-label Risperdal cases with the U.S. Department of Justice settling a global suit to the tune of more than two billion dollars. AbleChild had the opportunity to speak with Jones over the holidays and we are honored to include Jones as one of our biggest supporters.

It’s been more than two decades since Jones took on the pharmaceutical industry. Jones is an honorable man who sees his intervention as a necessity and a hope that some children will have benefited from his efforts. He also understands that “the drug industry is burrowed into our government to an unbelievably deep and unhealthy degree.”  “The problem,” says Jones “is that nothing changes no matter how you call out the ethical problems between government, universities and the pharmaceutical companies.”

Nevertheless, Jones is hopeful that Kennedy will be confirmed at HHS and act immediately to remove pharmaceutical advertising from television. Jones also hopes that “Kennedy would take a look at these mental health advisory committees and the extent to which industry has infiltrated the drug approval process.”

Jones agrees that the top executives at the pharmaceutical companies need to be held personally responsible for the harm that is created by the company’s misdeeds. “The financial settlements are baked into the drug profits by the bean counters,” explains Jones, “so there has to be stronger punishments…they need do some jail time.” “The top guys,” said Jones, “have to be held responsible for the harm these drugs cause.”

Jones understands the power of pharmaceutical companies and acknowledges that his fight two decades ago was all encompassing. Would he do it again? “I would hope that people would step up,” says Jones, “but it takes an irrational amount of dedication…it can take over your life.” “For me,” explains Jones, “there was something there that I could not ignore, but it will take over your life and can hurt you.” “I would encourage anyone who sees impropriety to expose it,” concludes Jones, “but just be aware there is great personal risk.”

Jones was later acknowledged for his whistleblower efforts by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights and Taxpayers Against Fraud. AbleChild honors Jones for his integrity for without which children in many of the fifty states would have been subjected to harmful drug prescriptions. And, ultimately, thanks to Jones and other whistleblowers, TMAP is no longer used by the states as a psychiatric drug medication program.

AbleChild will be acknowledging Jones’ efforts during its 2nd Annual Awards Dinner on February 8, 2025 in Vero Beach, Florida.

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