Dear colleagues, today I read the article that appeared in La Repubblica on 03 September 2010 entitled " Prescription books were stolen in doctors' offices, Pharmaceutical informers on trial " (editor's note, so it seems, we are awaiting the work and any decisions from the judiciary).
What has been learned through the press channels has nothing new for our sector, there have always been some bad apples which unfortunately have increased in number and consistency over the years, operating in our profession, not caring about laws, regulations and common sense. There are many colleagues driven by fear who are forced to lower their heads every day in the face of the constant harassment of aggressive and inconclusive marketing, while others, the so-called "cunning people from the neighborhood" in order to reach the highest corporate peaks of sales and awards do not shy away from any scruples.
What is happening in these days allows me to share some reflections with you.
But are we really sure that what is happening is not the result not only of the delinquency of some sporadic individuals, but also of specific responsibilities of the State and Pharmaceutical Companies?
Why are there so many codes of ethics that are not respected?
Why does the State, despite being aware of what is happening, still allow pharmaceutical companies (which by now never miss an opportunity to flaunt it) to move like normal companies in a free market, closing their eyes to every clear signal?
Because pharmaceutical companies are still allowed to "stimulate the sales" of their drugs, treating scientific representatives, implementers of a drug scientific information service on behalf of the State and the NHS, as Sales Forces under various forms through prizes or whatnot ?
Many questions could still be asked, but until the Gordian knot between scientific information and sales is definitively cut, we will only be able to helplessly witness what is happening, which on the one hand impoverishes the figure of the ISF-worker and on the other does not well to a system clearly and deliberately blind to an uncontrolled situation.
A hug to all
Umberto Alderisi
05.09.2010
They stole recipe books from doctor's offices
Pharmaceutical informants on trial
They presented their products to doctors in outpatient clinics and distracted them to get hold of the prescriptions they forged to defraud the health service and the pharmaceutical company they worked for
They distracted doctors from the health service while they presented the products of the company they represented, took possession of their prescription books issued to doctors affiliated with the local health authorities and used them to prescribe drugs to unsuspecting citizens, thus defrauding both the national health service and the pharmaceutical company they worked for. MB, 68, and MM, 40, both scientific informants, were defended respectively by the lawyers Grazia Volo and Gianluca Arrighi of the pharmaceutical company Ely Lylli. In fact, prosecutor Pietro Giordano has
