DoH, FDA to probe ‘unethical’ pharma marketing

The Department of Health (DoH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have vowed to probe the alleged unethical pharmaceutical marketing scheme of a particular drug distribution company run by physicians.

Following a Senate hearing last 30 April, the DoH, through the FDA and the Senate Public Health Ethics Committee, as well as the Professional Regulation Commission, agreed to form a Joint Committee for Investigation (JCI) to which they will also invite the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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 and the Philippine Pharmacists Association.

The JCI’s legal advisers are also looking into mechanisms to protect whistleblowers so they could provide actionable information and evidence, according to the DoH.

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

Ejercito cited the article written by Dr. Sylvia Claudio, former University of the Philippines-Diliman professor of medicine.

“According to Dr. Claudio, pharmaceutical companies shower doctors with gifts from as small as ballpoint pens and T-shirts to blowouts at expensive restaurants, to sponsoring concerts and trips abroad, to market their products,” Ejercito wrote in his resolution.

Ejercito revealed that he was approached by some pharmaceutical companies and whistleblowers who said that doctors were allegedly in cahoots with Bell-Kenz Pharma Inc. in writing prescriptions for medicines.

“I heard of this practice concerning 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 whistleblowers said this involves doctors marketing or prescribing the drugs or medicines imported by their own company,” he said.

Ejercito said the modus operandi can be considered “networking or pyramiding.”

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