THE DNA IS INVESTIGATING THE DOCTORS - DRUGSTORES CIRCUIT Oncologists would receive trips to Paris and Las Vegas to promote more expensive drugs

The prosecutors of the National Anti-Corruption Department (DNA) have yesterday raided doctors and pharmaceutical company in an investigation which concerns bribes in exchange for promoting drugs used in treating cancer. More to the point, doctors and individuals that were working in the licensed institutions would receive various material favors to convince cancer patients to acquire more expensive drugs than the generic ones, that are subsidized by the National Health Insurance Department (Casa Naţională de Asigurări de Sănătate - CNAS).

A press release issued yesterday by the National Anti-Corruption Department states that prosecutors "are conducting investigations in a criminal case which concerns suspicions of acts of corruption and other similar offenses, committed between 2012 and 2015". 61 searches were conducted in Bucharest and in the counties of Ilfov, Sibiu, Mureş, Sălaj, Cluj, Bistriţa-Năsăud and Timiş, at the offices of companies and the homes of several individuals. Legal system sources told us that the searches concern doctors and pharmacies.

The president of the Federation of Cancer Patients, Cezar Irimia, told us that the system for prescribing cancer treatments is very well regulated and doctors don't do anything haphazardly. He also said that many problems within the system would disappear if Romania had a clear record of cancer patients.

"Our doctors are only allowed to prescribe drugs according to some protocols that are agreed upon and accredited on a European level, thus, they don't recommend these treatments at random, and for expensive drugs, which are taken with the approval of the CNAS, the patients' records are very thoroughly checked and only those that comply with the protocol are approved for the patients to receive treatment", Mr. Irimia said.

He also added that no national cancer registry exists, which has been requested since 2001, which would have monitored the patients, as well as the therapies that they have been put on, the money spent by the patient, as well as the results of the treatments they have been put on.

Certain drug firms have offered some doctors in the counties of Mureş, Sălaj, Sibiu, Bistriţa and Cluj trips to various countries, goods, benefits and other services, subject to them prescribing the drugs those companies produce or distribute, according to legal system sources quoted by Agerpres.

Thus, doctors would opt for the more expensive drugs to the detriment of the generic, equivalent drugs, which have the same chemical composition and are cheaper as well.

Legal system sources have also said that drug companies offered to pay the doctors' trips to various workshops and conferences abroad, which were actually fictitious, as they were actually luxury trips.

Thus, in 2014, a drug maker paid 4.1 million lei to a tour operator to organize trips abroad for doctors. The sources state that the prosecutors have found invoices issued by travel agencies for events organized in several cities, including Ottawa (Canada) and San Diego (USA). In order to organize those congresses in those cities, a drug company concluded several sponsorship agreements with the doctors participating in those meetings. The prosecutors have found, however, that the alleged event which was held in Ottawa between February 12th - February 16th 2013 was actually held in Paris in January 2013, as it was actually a leisure trip. Legal system sources claim that approximately 30 doctors attended the trip to Paris, for which travel, meal, meal, transfers, plane tickets and show tickets. Evidence also exists that the event which according to the paperwork was organized in San Diego, between October 24th - October 31st, 2013, was only a leisure trip. Thus, the doctors traveled to San Diego and Las Vegas, but in the paperwork, the travel agency only included San Diego, at the request of the representative of a drug company.

Having attended yesterday a ceremony organized at the Technical Military Academy, the chief-prosecutor of the DNA, Laura Codruţa Kovesi, said that "several healthcare units are involved".

"I can assure you however that during the investigation we will review all the necessary aspects to clarify the manner in which certain drugs have been prescribed, the way certain drugs have been acquired and, where applicable, where we are dealing with diagnoses or other aspects that pertain to the life or health or other individuals, they will be contacted and preventive measures will be taken, if necessary", Kovesi further said.

In a press release issued by the Ministry of Health, it condemns "the practices through which doctors can be influenced in their prescriptions by pharmaceutical companies".

Nicolae Bănicioiu, the minister of healthcare, is quoted in the press release to have said that "he has made it a priority to implement instruments that would make the system more efficient and cut the financial losses, such as, for instance, the introduction of the national healthcare card and the updating of drug prices".

He also boasts that last year, "he has introduced stricter requirements for becoming members of the specialized commissions and through an order of the minister, the situations of incompatibility have been clarified by extending the area of conflict of interest for the doctors of the specialized commissions".

"Also, this year, according to the provisions of the framework agreement, service providers have been prohibited from concluding service contracts based on which they would be paid commissions for directing their patients towards specific suppliers", Bănicioiu said.