Dirty Money Season 1 Episode 7 Cleared for Payoff

In Dirty Money season 1 episode 7, titled Cleared for Payoff, the viewer is taken into the world of the pharmaceutical industry and its dangerous practices. The episode tells the story of Valeant, a Canadian pharmaceutical company that grew to become one of the largest in the world due to its ruthless business tactics.

Through interviews with former employees, industry experts, and journalists, the episode uncovers how Valeant became notorious for drastically increasing the prices of life-saving drugs and using aggressive sales tactics to pressure doctors into prescribing their pharmaceuticals. The company's CEO at the time, J. Michael Pearson, is portrayed as a cutthroat businessman who prioritized profit over patients' lives.

The episode also delves into Valeant's relationship with Philidor Rx Services, a specialty pharmacy that allegedly helped the company inflate drug prices and engage in fraudulent activities. Valeant's close ties to Philidor were exposed by a group of short-sellers, who bet against the company's stocks and revealed its unethical practices to the public.

The episode highlights the devastating impact Valeant's actions had on patients, many of whom were forced to pay exorbitant prices or go without life-saving medication. One interviewee, a young woman with a rare disease, tearfully describes how she was initially ecstatic when Valeant acquired the drug she needed, only to be devastated when the company raised the price by thousands of dollars.

Despite the damning evidence against Valeant and Philidor, the episode reveals that the companies' executives were able to escape legal consequences due to a loophole in the law. The lack of accountability in the pharmaceutical industry is a recurring theme throughout the episode, with the experts and investigators interviewed acknowledging the difficulty of holding companies and their executives responsible for their actions.

Cleared for Payoff ultimately serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of unchecked corporate greed and the urgency of reforming the pharmaceutical industry to put patients' needs first. The episode raises important questions about the role of government regulation and transparency in holding companies accountable, leaving the viewer to ponder the ethical and moral implications of the pharmaceutical industry's practices.