Healthcare Criminals cover designed by Apoth Creative<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
![](\"https:\/\/img.einpresswire.com\/large\/604962\/cover-healthcare-criminals.jpeg#1800x2700\")
<\/a><\/p>\nHealthcare Criminals back cover, artwork by Megan Euker, design by Apoth Creative<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u2014 Vinay Shetty, Vice President, Think Foundation<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
TAMPA, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES, January 25, 2024 \/EINPresswire.com<\/a>\/ — In September 2024, Patrick Girondi<\/a>, Wall Street Journal bestselling author and biotech veteran will release \u201cHealthcare Criminals<\/a>: The Destruction of Bluebird Bio and Affordable Gene Therapy.\u201d<\/p>\n Girondi\u2019s gripping book tells a true American tale which spans 30 years. The salvation of his son was sabotaged by morally-bankrupt vultures in the pharmaceutical industry, banking industry and venture capitalists. <\/p>\n The economic cost and damage to patients and the US healthcare system, dwarves the Oxycontin, Vioxx, Paxil and EpiPen crimes combined.<\/p>\n When Rocco was diagnosed in 1993, Mr. Girondi, with the support of friends, family members, doctors and researchers formed Errant Gene Therapeutics (EGT), a small pharmaceutical company. You might want to call them \u201cSmall Pharma\u201d as opposed to the top-heavy drug outfits today cynically known as \u201cBig Pharma.\u201d<\/p>\n The exact same gene therapy which will cure Thalassemia will also cure the more widespread Sickle Cell Disease (SCD), both hemoglobin diseases.<\/p>\n Today, EGT is San Rocco Therapeutics (SRT). Many years ahead of big pharma, SRT is the first company in the world to safely treat Thalassemia patients with gene replacement therapy and the first to produce a commercial batch of gene therapy for Sickle Cell Disease and Thalassemia.<\/p>\n In 2010, Third Rock Ventures paid $35 million for Bluebird Bio, which owned a faulty gene therapy to cure SCD and Thalassemia. After discovering the bad investment, Bluebird Bio CEO and Third Rock Ventures founder, Nick Leschly, pilfered SRT\u2019s Intellectual Property while lying to investors. The \u201cBLUE\u201d stock price initiated at $17 and skyrocketed to $230. At that point of the crime, Leschly (and cronies) sold their shares to the unwitting, escaping with billions of dollars. The Bluebird Bio price is now $2.00. Leschly\u2019s income in 2018 alone was $24 million. <\/p>\n Eventually, Girondi discovered the crime. Devastated by the unmitigated audacity by doctors whom he had been communicating and collaborating with for years to cure his son and others, Girondi sought justice in the US court system, where Big Pharma wears the little guys out and then crushes them.<\/p>\n SRT succeeded in reaching an out-of-court settlement in 2020; however, Bluebird, mired in their hubris, continues to not abide by the agreement. SRT has now filed charges for IP theft in Delaware (1:21-cv-01478-RGA) and RICO charges in Massachusetts (1:23-cv-10919). <\/p>\n Thus far, court documents confirm the involvement of a cast of executives, managers, insiders, and board members at Agios Pharma including its founder, Craig B. Thompson, and members of Bluebird Bio, Celgene and Juno.<\/p>\n SRT will soon be back in clinical trials and will charge $700,000 per patient. Bluebird Bio\u2019s product was approved, then expelled from Europe in 2021 when it demanded $1.8 million per patient. In the USA, Bluebird was approved at $3.1 million per patient in December of 2023 for its Sickle Cell Disease therapy.<\/p>\n Girondi gives the reader an intimate and never-before-seen back-stage glimpse into the realities of hospitals, nonprofits, researchers, pharmaceutical companies, and what it takes to fight them in the US legal system. He also makes note of the family connection akin to the street mafias: like father like son. To wit, Nick Leschly\u2019s father, Jan Leschly was the CEO of SmithKline Beecham from 1994-2000 when their anti-depressant drug, caused the suicides of thousands of children. In 2012, the Department of Justice handed down a $3 billion company fine for these deeds. The $3 billion was just the cost of doing business; their business in this particular drug crime, profited $12 billion. Not one individual was prosecuted. <\/p>\n \u201cCharacters in this book make Martin Shkreli look like a model citizen,\u201d Girondi says.<\/p>\n Girondi\u2019s memoir book \u201cFlight of the Rondone: High School Dropout VS Big Pharma \u2013 The Fight to Save My Son\u2019s Life\u201d is a Wall Street Journal #1 Bestseller from 2022. \u201cRondone\u201d is also available in Italian. In February, 2023, \u201cNew City: A Story about Race-Baiting and Hope on the South Side of Chicago\u201d was published. In October, 2023, \u201cFaded Genes: Searching for a Cure and Finding Home in Altamura, Italy,\u201d was released. Girondi is working with producers P.G. Cuschieri and Craig Cohen on a \u201cFaded Genes\u201d movie deal. In November 2023, \u201cBlind Faith\u201d was released. In January, \u201cChivalry\u201d was released.<\/p>\n All of Girondi\u2019s books are published by Skyhorse Publishing and distributed by Simon and Schuster.<\/p>\n The cover art and original artwork inside \u201cHealthcare Criminals” will be done by renowned artist, Megan Euker<\/a> and the design will be created by Apoth Creative.<\/p>\n Patrick Girondi, originally from the South Side of Chicago, is an Italian and American singer-songwriter, and founder of San Rocco Therapeutics, a gene therapy company focused on bringing a safe and accessible cure to Sickle Cell Disease and Thalassemia patients.<\/p>\n Truth Prevails
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