Bayer & Glaxo Linked To Bribes In Italy
4 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // May 23rd, 2008 // 8:05 am
A drug licences-for-cash scandal has engulfed Italy’s medicines regulatory agency with leading officials arrested along with people linked to major drugmakers, PharmaTimes writes. The most senior figure to have been held is Pasqualino Rossi, vp of Aifa, the Italian Agency for Pharmaceuticals, and one of Italy’s most senior reps at the European Medicines Agency.
Five lobbyists have also been arrested, and an eighth person is being sought. Arrest warrants were issued after an investigating judge saw a 400-word police report suggesting money had changed hands in return for falsifying clinical data required for drug licences, according to PharmaTimes. At issue are licenses awarded to around 30 meds, mostly generics. The two-year investigation used wiretaps and covert cameras.
The scandal came to light following a routine comparison of a branded med and its generic equivalent, which turned out to have undergone fewer tests than were officially claimed and that data endorsing the product had been falsified. The discovery sparked a major investigation by the Turin’s prosecutor, Raffaele Guariniello.
“In this case the corruption and risks to people’s health were bound-up together, ” he was quoted as saying, according to Pharmatimes. “And the web and the magnitude of events that we’re shedding light on have unthinkable and very grave consequences.”
Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper named Bayer and GlaxoSmithKline as having links to some of those arrested. Daniele Rosa, a spokesman for Bayer’s Italian division said: “The investigation does not concern the behaviour of the company, but alleged behaviour that could be traced back to some collaborators whose behaviour the company has no knowledge of. We will cooperate, as always, with the investigating authorities for everything that will be requested.”
Massimo Escani, a spokesman for Glaxo in Italy, denied that any associates of the company were involved in the scandal. “The claims are completely untrue. We deny any involvement whatsoever. These reports are groundless,” he told the Italian newspaper, according to PharmaTimes.
Initially, Aifa issued a brief statement denying that its employees were among those being investigated. When the Italian press named the senior officials arrested, however, the statement was removed from the website and the spokesman said that a new one was being prepared.
According to PharmaTimes, Martin Jarvis, a spokesman for the EMEA, said: “We are aware of the reports and we have written to the Italian authorities in order to clarify Dr. Rossi’s status. Our concern is that he is in a position to perform his duties at the EMEA.”
truthman30
GSK..
Corrupt to the core…
This is the second report of GSK mass bribing in Italy in so many years..
The first hit the headlines in 2003
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/feb/13/research.businessofresearch
News
World news
British drugs giant in Italian bribery investigation
Sophie Arie in Rome
The Guardian, Thursday February 13 2003 Article history
Italian prosecutors are investigating the giving of perks to Italian doctors by the British pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline allegedly in return for prescribing more of their drugs.
Investigating police claim they have evidence of a nationwide “bribery system” in which doctors allegedly prescribed 7-8% more Glaxo products each year in return for “freebies” such as Caribbean trips, stereo systems and wine.
In some cases, doctors received cash “gifts” ranging from £300 to £1,000, said the investigating prosecutor, Guido Papalia, in the northern town of Verona, where Glaxo has its Italian headquarters.
Glaxo played down the allegations. “We have a code of conduct and we try to follow it as scrupulously as possible,” said Giuseppe Recchia, the spokesman for GlaxoSmithKline in Italy.
“Glaxo is a leader in the world pharmaceutical market. We do not need to do anything here that we do not do in other European countries,” Dr Recchia said.
Dr Recchia said the company was awaiting further details of the allegations from the Italian authorities, after financial police searched 48 offices of its sales people throughout the country on February 7.
The police investigation is centred on communications between 30 doctors and 40 Glaxo salespeople between January 2001 and December 2002. Police say that emails, documents and tapped phone calls they have collected suggest more than 3,000 medical professionals may have been involved.
The investigators claim that €100m (£66m) declared by Glaxo in June 2001 as “investment to promote pharmaceuticals” was spent on free gifts - including luxury travel - for Italian doctors and other medical professionals.
But Dr Recchia argued that “travel” was not a crime, and health professionals had to attend international conferences to have the latest information on pharmaceutical developments.
Glaxo faced similar allegations in Germany last March, over allegedly offering perks such as free World Cup and formula one trips to thousands of German doctors between 1997 and 1999. The company, the biggest drugs firm in Europe, said at the time it would investigate the allegations internally and Europe-wide.
The company said at the time that many positions had been redefined and “responsibilities have changed” because of restructuring after Glaxo Wellcome merged with SmithKline Beecham in 2000.
Glaxo Wellcome was also investigated in 1995, during an Italian crackdown on corporate corruption, for allegedly bribing health ministry officials.
The head of the health ministry’s pharmaceuticals department at the time, Duilio Poggiolini, cited Glaxo among several leading pharmaceutical companies which he claimed had paid bribes to secure a place in, and set their prices on, the Italian market.
BOB FIDDAMAN
…Massimo Escani, a spokesman for Glaxo in Italy, denied that any associates of the company were involved in the scandal. “The claims are completely untrue. We deny any involvement whatsoever. These reports are groundless,” he told the Italian newspaper, according to PharmaTimes.
Now there’s a surprise!
Fid
Justice in Michigan
Dangerous duo, those. I find this the scary part:
“Glaxo is a leader in the world pharmaceutical market. We do not need to do anything here that we do not do in other European countries,” Dr Recchia said.
pg
I wonder where the majority of the media went?
http://mondediplo.com/2003/11/14pharma