German prosecutors probe again into bribes by drug companies
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《英国医生杂志》
Vienna
German prosecutors are investigating whether pharmaceutical companies gave bribes to hospital doctors to boost the use of their drugs.
Munich state prosecutors confirmed that they have searched the offices of a pharmaceutical company in the city, seizing files.
And according to a report in the regional daily newspaper Westfalen-Blatt (19 May), state prosecutors are investigating seven to nine pharmaceutical companies in Germany.
Raids were carried out on the offices of companies in Frankfurt and Darmstadt. Anton Winkler, the press spokesman of the Munich state prosecution office, said that the investigation was still in its infancy.
"I cannot give any details yet, but the pharmaceutical company we are investigating in Munich is not GlaxoSmithKline Beecham," he told the BMJ.
He noted that an investigation opened against SmithKline Beecham in Germany in 1999 by the Munich state prosecutor, who started investigations into the activities of 4000 doctors accused of accepting bribes from SmithKline Beecham across the whole country. This was concluded this week. Seventy one doctors in the city and dozens of employees of SmithKline Beecham have been accused of bribery.
In December 2000, the company merged with GlaxoWellcome to form GlaxoSmithKline.
The news of a fresh investigation into pharmaceutical companies comes at a time of growing concern about increasing corruption in Germany's health sector.
A report by a corruption expert—Frankfurt's state prosecutor, Wolfgang Schaupensteiner—says a third of all those who accept bribes work in the health sector. He said that the number of pharmaceutical and medical technology companies that have offered money or other illegal incentives to doctors leapt from 7.9% in 2001 to 14.1% in 2002.
One case made headlines this week when the head of the rehabilitation department of Munich's state health insurance (Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse (AOK) Munich) company was imprisoned for four years and 10 months for having accepted bribes worth 260 000 (￡173 060; $316 890) from clinics since 1998.
Transparency International, an independent organisation, alleged that bribery and corruption in the German health sector costs taxpayers 10bn each year.
But Dr Ursula Auerswald, vice president of the German Chamber of Doctors, rejected the claims as "cheap, polemical, and self righteous."
"That these people do not provide concrete proof on a regular basis and do lasting damage to trust in the health service, is something that they ignore without any conscience," she said.(Jane Burgermeister)
German prosecutors are investigating whether pharmaceutical companies gave bribes to hospital doctors to boost the use of their drugs.
Munich state prosecutors confirmed that they have searched the offices of a pharmaceutical company in the city, seizing files.
And according to a report in the regional daily newspaper Westfalen-Blatt (19 May), state prosecutors are investigating seven to nine pharmaceutical companies in Germany.
Raids were carried out on the offices of companies in Frankfurt and Darmstadt. Anton Winkler, the press spokesman of the Munich state prosecution office, said that the investigation was still in its infancy.
"I cannot give any details yet, but the pharmaceutical company we are investigating in Munich is not GlaxoSmithKline Beecham," he told the BMJ.
He noted that an investigation opened against SmithKline Beecham in Germany in 1999 by the Munich state prosecutor, who started investigations into the activities of 4000 doctors accused of accepting bribes from SmithKline Beecham across the whole country. This was concluded this week. Seventy one doctors in the city and dozens of employees of SmithKline Beecham have been accused of bribery.
In December 2000, the company merged with GlaxoWellcome to form GlaxoSmithKline.
The news of a fresh investigation into pharmaceutical companies comes at a time of growing concern about increasing corruption in Germany's health sector.
A report by a corruption expert—Frankfurt's state prosecutor, Wolfgang Schaupensteiner—says a third of all those who accept bribes work in the health sector. He said that the number of pharmaceutical and medical technology companies that have offered money or other illegal incentives to doctors leapt from 7.9% in 2001 to 14.1% in 2002.
One case made headlines this week when the head of the rehabilitation department of Munich's state health insurance (Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse (AOK) Munich) company was imprisoned for four years and 10 months for having accepted bribes worth 260 000 (￡173 060; $316 890) from clinics since 1998.
Transparency International, an independent organisation, alleged that bribery and corruption in the German health sector costs taxpayers 10bn each year.
But Dr Ursula Auerswald, vice president of the German Chamber of Doctors, rejected the claims as "cheap, polemical, and self righteous."
"That these people do not provide concrete proof on a regular basis and do lasting damage to trust in the health service, is something that they ignore without any conscience," she said.(Jane Burgermeister)