Yesterday a jury found former InterMune Inc. CEO W. Scott Harkonen guilty on one felony wire fraud count. The conviction carries a maximum of 20 years in jail.
Federal prosecutors accused Harkonen of exaggerating the efficacy of the drug Actimmune. The wire fraud count dealt solely with a press release, prepared at the direction of Harkonen, which misstated the results of a clinical trial.
Harkonen was cleared of a second misbranding charge, which was centered on subsequent statements from InterMune to doctors and patients to which the press release was attached. At one point during deliberations, the jury sent out a note asking whether a person could be guilty of misbranding simply for creating a document that caused a drug to be misbranded -- presumably, the press release -- but who didn't give specific directions to use it.



