Fake account posing as pharmaceutical giant says 'insulin is free', causes stocks to plummet (2024)

A pharmaceutical giant selling insulin for hundreds of dollars a vial has apologised after an impostor Twitter account that purchased a blue-check "verified" label tweeted that the drug was free.

Key points:

  • The incident with pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly & Co is the latest in a wave of problems involving fake accounts
  • Twitter has now rolled back its Twitter Blueverification program
  • New owner Elon Musk says the company had "no choice" to remove it due to "corrupt" verified accounts

The incident was among a wave of impersonations that prompted Twitter to make its relaunched premium service — available to anyone for $US8 ($11.93) a month — unavailable.

A fake account posing as pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly & Co and registered under the Twitter Blue system tweeted: "We are excited to announce insulin is free now."

The tweet prompted Eli Lilly's stock to drop sharply by percentage points, according to Investor's Business Daily.

"We apologise to those who have been served a misleading message from a fake Lilly account," the company said, reiterating the name of its Twitter handle.

Eli Lilly had previously faced scrutiny for its insulin prices, following reports that revealed some Americans were stockpiling the drug because they could not afford more.

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The company's pricing website still lists a five-pack of its insulin "Kwikpens" as $US530.40 ($791.28) and its branded 10ml vial as $US274.70 ($409.81).

A pinned tweet on Eli Lilly's official Twitter account also still promotes its "insulin affordability options".

Flood of impostor accounts for major brands

The removal of Twitter Blue is the latest whiplash-inducing change to the service where uncertainty has become the norm since billionaire Elon Musk took control two weeks ago.

Prior to that, the blue check was granted to government entities, corporations, celebrities and journalists verified by the platform — precisely to prevent impersonation.

Now, anyone can get one as long as they have a phone and a credit card.

Nintendo, Lockheed Martin, Mr Musk's own companies Tesla and SpaceX were also impersonated, as well as the accounts of various professional sports and political figures.

For advertisers who have put their business with Twitter on hold, the fake accounts could be the last straw.

Mr Musk's rocky run atop the platform — laying off half its workforce and triggering high-profile departures — has raised questions about its survivability.

Impostorshave created "overwhelming reputational risk for placing advertising investments on the platform", said Lou Paskalis, longtime marketing and media executive and former Bank of America head of global media.

Mr Paskalis added that with the fake "verified" brand accounts, "a picture emerges of a platform in disarray that no media professional would risk their career by continuing to make advertising investments on, and no governance apparatus or senior executive would condone if they did".

Adding to the confusion, Twitter now has two categories of "blue checks", and they look identical.

Fake account posing as pharmaceutical giant says 'insulin is free', causes stocks to plummet (1)

One includes the accounts verified before Musk took the helm.

It notes: "This account is verified because it's notable in government, news, entertainment, or another designated category."

The other notes that the account subscribes to Twitter Blue.

But as of midday on Friday, Twitter Blue was not available for subscription.

'No choice' but to remove Twitter Blue

On Thursday, Mr Musk tweeted that "too many corrupt legacy Blue 'verification' checkmarks exist, so no choice but to remove legacy Blue in coming months".

An email sent to Twitter's press address went unanswered.

The company's communications department was gutted in the layoffs and Twitter has not responded to queries from The Associated Press since October 27 when Mr Musk took the helm.

Twitter has also once again begun adding grey "official" labels to some prominent accounts.

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It had rolled out the labels earlier this week, only to kill them a few hours later.

They returned on Thursday night, at least for some accounts — including Twitter's own, as well as big companies like Amazon, Nike and Coca-Cola, before many vanished again.

Celebrities also did not appear to be getting the "official" label.

About 90 per cent of Twitter's revenue came from advertisers.

Fake account posing as pharmaceutical giant says 'insulin is free', causes stocks to plummet (2)

"It has become chaos," said Richard Levick, chief executive of public relations firm Levick.

"Who buys into chaos?"

A bigger issue for Mr Musk might be the risk to his reputation as a model tech executive, since the rollout of different types of verifications and other changes have been botched, Mr Levick added.

"It's another example of something not very well thought out, and that's what happens when you rush," Mr Levick said.

"Musk has been known as a trusted visionary and magician — he can't lose that moniker and that's what's at risk right now."

Google, Amazon and Meta account for about 75 per cent of digital ads globally, with all other platforms combined making up the other 25 per cent.

Twitter accounts for about 0.9 per cent of global digital ad spending, according to Insider Intelligence.

"For most marketers on budgets, Twitter has always been that thing that is potentially too big to totally ignore but not quite big enough to care about," said Mark DiMassimo, creative chief of marketing agency DiGo.

"None of this is a forever moral or ethical stand on the point of advertisers.

"If Musk proves to be a civilising force in the long run, advertisers will come back — if Twitter is still there. It's a 'for now' decision — why be there now?"

AP/ABC

Fake account posing as pharmaceutical giant says 'insulin is free', causes stocks to plummet (2024)

FAQs

Fake account posing as pharmaceutical giant says 'insulin is free', causes stocks to plummet? ›

Lilly tweeted late that afternoon, “We apologize to those who have been served a misleading message from a fake Lilly account. Our official Twitter account is @LillyPad.” According to Google, Lilly's stock price fell from about $360 to $346 per share within 20 minutes of the imposter's tweet.

What is the insulin company scandal? ›

April 15 (Reuters) - A settlement between Eli Lilly (LLY. N) , opens new tab and purchasers of its insulin drugs that would have capped prices and provided $13.5 million to resolve claims that the company inflated the drugs' cost has fallen apart, after an unfavorable ruling from the judge overseeing the case.

Did Eli Lilly lose money because of tweets? ›

Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly (LLY) dipped 4.37 per cent Friday to US $352.30 — erasing over US $15 billion in market cap — after a Twitter Blue verified account impersonating the brand promised free insulin.

What happened to Eli Lilly's stock on Twitter? ›

But the ersatz Eli Lilly tweet had other consequences: The pharmaceutical company's stock dropped over 4.37% (although there may have been other factors, including similar market dips that day from other pharmaceutical makers).

Did Eli Lilly lose billions? ›

Eli Lilly & Co. is down more than $120 billion in market value and its status as the poster child of the weight-loss drug frenzy is under threat with at least two rivals posting encouraging developments for their obesity treatments.

Why is Lilly stock dropping? ›

The pharmaceutical stock tumbled after one of the company's competitors announced promising clinical trial news on an obesity drug. Lilly has two obesity products that are powering sales right now, and it could lose market share ahead of schedule if any of its rivals push smoothly through development.

Who is the largest producer of insulin in the US? ›

Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly is one of three pharmaceutical companies that control the global insulin market. It competes with France's Sanofi and Denmark's Novo Nordisk.

What is the controversy with Eli Lilly and company? ›

In 2009, Lilly pleaded guilty for illegally marketing Zyprexa and agreed to pay a $1.415 billion penalty that included a criminal fine of $515 million, the largest ever in a healthcare case and the largest criminal fine for an individual corporation ever imposed in a U.S. criminal prosecution of any kind at the time.

Why is Eli Lilly tanking? ›

Eli Lilly & Co.'s stock was on pace for its worst day in about three years Thursday as investors fretted about intensifying competition among obesity-drug developers. were also hit hard Thursday, falling roughly 5%. announced positive early-stage trial data for its experimental obesity pill.

How much market cap did Eli Lilly lose? ›

End of year Market Cap
YearMarket capChange
2019C$163.14 B-2.29%
2018C$166.96 B42.8%
2017C$116.92 B7.16%
2016C$109.11 B-15.63%
25 more rows

Should I sell my Lilly stock? ›

Eli Lilly & Co has a consensus rating of Strong Buy which is based on 17 buy ratings, 2 hold ratings and 0 sell ratings. What is Eli Lilly & Co's price target? The average price target for Eli Lilly & Co is $1,042.24. This is based on 19 Wall Streets Analysts 12-month price targets, issued in the past 3 months.

Who owns the most Eli Lilly stock? ›

Top Shareholders
Holder# of SharesType
Lilly Endowment Inc96,891,978Insider
Vanguard65,338,798Institution
Vanguard Index Funds60,652,506Institution
iShares32,986,238Institution
6 more rows

What is the highest Eli Lilly stock has ever been? ›

Eli Lilly - 52 Year Stock Price History | LLY
  • The all-time high Eli Lilly stock closing price was 960.02 on August 30, 2024.
  • The Eli Lilly 52-week high stock price is 972.53, which is 1.3% above the current share price.
  • The Eli Lilly 52-week low stock price is 516.57, which is 46.2% below the current share price.

What is Eli Lilly's net worth? ›

Eli Lilly has a market cap or net worth of $864.43 billion as of September 3, 2024. Its market cap has increased by 69.36% in one year.

What is Eli Lilly's net income? ›

How much money does Eli Lilly make a year? ›

Eli Lilly revenue for the twelve months ending June 30, 2024 was $38.923B, a 31.87% increase year-over-year. Eli Lilly annual revenue for 2023 was $34.124B, a 19.56% increase from 2022. Eli Lilly annual revenue for 2022 was $28.541B, a 0.79% increase from 2021.

What is the insulin pump controversy? ›

Medtronic Insulin Pump Recall Lawsuit. In February 2020, Medtronic announced that over 300,000 of the company's MiniMed Insulin Pump devices have a defect that could cause serious injury or even death to users.

What is the controversy with Eli Lilly insulin? ›

In 2018, the Minnesota Attorney General sued Eli Lilly, Sanofi, and one additional insulin manufacturer alleging they deceptively priced their insulin products, which caused uninsured and underinsured Minnesotans to pay astronomically high out-of-pocket costs based on the list price of the drugs.

What is the controversy with Lilly medicine? ›

Lilly has discovered compounded drugs advertised as tirzepatide with safety, sterility, and efficacy problems. Some have contained bacteria, high impurity levels, different colors (pink, instead of colorless), or a completely different chemical structure than Lilly's FDA-approved medicines.

Why doesn t Mark Cuban sell insulin? ›

Cuban said manufacturing and selling low-cost insulin is a bit trickier than some of the other drugs the business offers. Insulin is a biologic product, a class of medicines extracted from living cells. That makes it more difficult to make than other drugs, which can be synthesized chemically.

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