Dive Brief:
- A trial between Eli Lilly's insurance company and the security firm Tyco began this week in Florida federal court over what is considered by some to be the largest pharmaceutical heist in the history of the industry.
- The lawsuit dates back to 2010 when the brothers Amaury and Amed Villa (who are named as defendants in the case) allegedly broke into a CT warehouse and stole millions of dollars worth of Eli Lilly's warehoused drugs. According to Gilbert Firm, P.C, which is representing the plaintiff, the burglary ultimately resulted in $78 million in losses.
- The lawsuit alleges the brothers gained access to the security firm's assessment of the warehouse, which highlighted its weakest points, and made it possible to plan a break-in.
Dive Insight:
This case is attracting a great deal of attention, because it relates directly to one of the major concerns of pharmaceutical companies—maintaining the integrity fo their supply chain and preventing cargo theft.
Things have improved for the better in the last six years, largely because of the efforts of the Pharmaceutical Cargo Security Coalition, according to a report from Fierce Pharma Marketing. The average loss in 2015 was $558,000 per incident, compared with $3.7 million per incident in 2010.
According to the complaint, defendants Amaury Villa and Amed Villa crossed the roof of the distribution warehouse to a small area which the 2010 ADT/TYCO Confidential System Proposal identified as above an unmonitored area. The brothers then allegedly rappelled down to access a room where they could disable security sytems.