DOH, FDA to probe alleged unethical pharma marketing

The Department of Health (DOH) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) vowed to probe alleged unethical pharmaceutical marketing.

This is following the Senate hearing last 30 April on the alleged unethical pharmaceutical marketing practices by a particular drug distribution company run by physicians.

The DOH, through the FDA and the Public Health Ethics Committee as well as the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC), agreed to form a Joint Committee for Investigation (JCI) to which they will also invite the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The JCI will help reduce redundancy and expedite due process requirements regarding the many allegations aired at the Senate hearing, ensuring that the integrity of the medical profession is protected while holding accountable those found to have violated pertinent laws, rules, and regulations.

The JCI will also be seeking inputs and comments from professional bodies like the Philippine Medical Association (PMA) and the Philippine Pharmacists Association (PPhA).

Legal advisers of the JCI are also looking into possible mechanisms to protect whistleblowers so that they may provide actionable information and evidence, according to DOH.

Senator JV Ejercito on 26 April filed a resolution directing an appropriate Senate panel to conduct an inquiry on the alleged collusion in prescribing medicines between doctors and pharmaceutical companies.

Ejercito cited the written article of Dr. Sylvia Claudio, former University of the Philippines Diliman's doctor of medicine professor.

"According to Dr. Claudio, pharmaceutical companies will shower doctors with gifts from as little as ballpoint pens and t-shirts; blowouts at expensive restaurants; to sponsoring concerts and trips abroad just to market their products," Ejercito wrote in his resolution.

Ejercito revealed that he was approached by some pharmaceutical companies and some whistleblowers that doctors were allegedly in cahoots with Bell-Kenz Pharma Inc. in meds prescription.

"I heard this practice concerning the Bell-Kenz Pharma Inc., wherein the shareholders are doctors, and they import quality drugs for hypertension, diabetes, and others," he said in a press briefing on Wednesday.

"The only problem is that there seems to be a conflict of interest and a breach of ethical standards because the complaint of whistleblowers is it involves doctors marketing or prescribing the drugs or medicines imported by their own company," he added.

Ejercito said the modus can be considered a "networking or pyramiding."

"We have to investigate why this has been going on. The company existed a long time ago. It boosted during the pandemic," he added.