"In the Army I was expected to protect people at all costs," Kopchinski said in a statement. "At Pfizer I was expected to increase profits at all costs, even when sales meant endangering lives."

"Particularly in pharma, it's no secret that it's an industry that can blackball former employees,"

"At the time of his dismissal after raising his concerns with the company, Kopchinski had a baby son and his wife was pregnant with twins. He went from earning about $125,000 a year to living off his retirement fund before landing a job with an insurance company for $40,000 a year."

"What you see here is a company which essentially had a culture of corruption," said Patrick Burns, a spokesman for Taxpayers Against Fraud, a U.S. nonprofit organization that helps connect whistleblowers with attorneys on False Claims Act cases."

"The size of the whistleblower rewards announced Wednesday are already having an impact."

"I'm seeing it first-hand myself. I've gotten phone calls this morning," said Zerbe, who was approached by an employee of a hospital who claimed that it was overbilling the government, including charging for products it had received for free.

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