Healthcare Criminals

A gripping exposé of how Bluebird Bio sabotaged affordable sickle cell and thalassemia treatment worldwide.

Healthcare Criminals is the inside story of how Bluebird Bio stole gene therapy technology from its rival and sabotaged their superior product to market gene therapy at an impossible cost of over $3 million per patient in the US.

As Americans struggled to afford care, former Bluebird CEO Nick Leschly, self-proclaimed “Chief Bluebird,” pocketed over $100 million while his coconspirators and Third Rock Ventures raked in billions. They make Martin Shkreli look like a model citizen. The scandal's economic toll on the 102,000 Americans with Sickle Cell Disease or Thalassemia surpasses the ten most notorious pharmaceutical crimes combined.

Patrick Girondi, the Wall Street Journal bestselling author and founder of San Rocco Therapeutics, narrates Bluebird’s corrupt rise and its subsequent fall, as its stock now trades at $5 compared to its height of $230. Girondi tells the story as both a founder and a father as he fights in the lab and in the courts to bring more affordable, more effective gene therapy to those who need it—including his own son.

For readers of Empire of Pain, Pain Hustlers, and For Blood and Money, Healthcare Criminals is a compelling true story of greed, betrayal, and the relentless pursuit of justice in the face of widespread corruption in the pharmaceutical industry.
 

PATRICK GIRONDI, originally from the South Side of Chicago, is an Italian and American singer-songwriter, author, 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. Girondi has released seven music albums and five books, including the Wall Street Journal #1 bestseller Flight of the Rondone and most recently Chivalry.

 

"At the end of the day, you cannot help but hope that Pat and his son will win the battle over thalassemia while thrashing some creeps along the way."
—John Kurgan

"I was brought to tears when I read this."
—Joseph Vigliotti

"Girondi has tremendous perseverance in the face of great odds. Good guys always win."
—Vinay Shetty, vice president, Think Foundation