Medical representatives under the high pressure of anti-corruption in the pharmaceutical industry: 'Now we dare not enter the hospital'

China News Network, August 9 (China News Finance, Left Yuqing) - With the further escalation of anti-corruption in the pharmaceutical industry, many hospital directors and secretaries have fallen from grace. Some media statistics show that as of now, at least 159 hospital directors and secretaries across the country have been investigated.

Under the high-pressure anti-corruption stance in the pharmaceutical field, recently, some hospitals have written to well-known pharmaceutical companies, demanding the dismissal of their pharmaceutical representatives. What exactly happened? How do current medical representatives view the anti-corruption situation?

Novartis responds: one has resigned, one has not been hired.

Pictures circulating online show that two recommendation letters were sent by the Second Affiliated Hospital of the Naval Military Medical University (also known as "Shanghai Changzheng Hospital") to Shanghai Novartis Trading Co., Ltd. and Beijing Novartis Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd.

Shanghai Changzheng Hospital stated in the recommendation letter that according to the "Opinion Letter on Replying to the Handling of Related Situations Found in Discipline Inspection Work," it required Shanghai Novartis Trading Co., Ltd. and Beijing Novartis Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. to dismiss or transfer the involved medical representatives Xu Shengli, Meng Tingting, Chen Mengwei, and Li Xiaojuan, totaling 4 people, and to feedback handling opinions to the hospital.

Novartis China responds to Shanghai Changzheng Hospital's request to dismiss medical representatives.

On this matter, Novartis China confirmed to China News Finance on the 8th that recently, Novartis China indeed received a letter from a hospital involving the aforementioned two Novartis medical representatives.

Novartis stated that it takes this incident very seriously. Upon verification, one person mentioned in the letter resigned from Novartis in 2018, and the other was never hired by Novartis.

Regarding why only one of the two rumored letters was responded to, Novartis said that only one letter has been confirmed to have been received. "Concerning the personnel involved, we are still verifying in the company's system."

Public information shows that Novartis is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, and its products cover approximately 140 countries and regions. Shanghai Changzheng Hospital is a comprehensive tertiary hospital that integrates medical treatment, teaching, and scientific research.

Medical Representatives: Now we dare not enter the hospital.

The website of the National Health Commission released a message on July 21st, that the National Health Commission, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Public Security, the Audit Office, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the National Medical Insurance Bureau, the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Medical Products Administration held a video conference jointly to deploy a one-year concentrated rectification of corruption issues in the national pharmaceutical field.

On July 28th, a video conference was held in Beijing to mobilize and deploy the centralized rectification work of corruption issues in the national pharmaceutical field, with the assistance of the disciplinary inspection and supervision authorities. The meeting pointed out that centralized rectification of corruption issues in the pharmaceutical field is a necessary requirement to promote the implementation of the Healthy China strategy, purify the pharmaceutical industry's ecology, and safeguard the vital interests of the masses.

"Actually, inspections are carried out every year, but this year's inspections are particularly strict." As a pharmaceutical representative in a lower-tier city, Zhao Mei (pseudonym) also felt the changes in the industry.

She told China News Finance that the current focus of investigation in the pharmaceutical field is on medical devices. "After the Spring Festival, several of our hospital directors and deputy directors were arrested here. Some hospitals began self-correction and self-examination, requiring doctors to refund lecture fees, kickbacks, etc. Now medical representatives dare not enter the hospital."

According to information disclosed on the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and National Supervisory Commission this year, a linear accelerator, a medical device imported for 15 million yuan, was bought by the hospital for 35.20 million yuan, and the kickback in the middle was swallowed up by the hospital director, amounting to 16 million yuan.

Multiple academic conferences in the pharmaceutical field postponed.

"The conference originally scheduled for August 10th suddenly notified 'postponed due to reasons' today, without specifying the reason." An industry insider told China News Finance that a recent academic conference in the pharmaceutical field that he was invited to attend was suddenly postponed.

According to media reports, recently, including the Hematology Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, Shaanxi Medical Association, Guangxi Medical Association, and other 8 organizers, indeed, issued notices of postponement for relevant academic conferences. In addition, according to incomplete statistics, since August, at least 10 upcoming academic conferences and forums in the pharmaceutical industry have announced postponements. Additionally, some study classes and training courses have also announced postponements recently.

China News Finance noted that the postponement notices previously publicly released by several pharmaceutical industry academic conference organizers have been deleted.

Regarding the postponement of academic conferences, some experts told the media that under the current anti-corruption high pressure, the pressure is transmitted to all aspects of the industry. Academic conferences are another major focus of investigation besides medical institutions and pharmaceutical companies. Since the standards for determining "red lines" and "crossing boundaries" are not yet clear, organizers and prospective participants of related academic conferences cannot guarantee that there is no risk. Naturally, they would think not to "show their faces" during this period. Sponsoring companies or foundations will also start to shrink, hence the above situation occurred.

However, some industry insiders also raised objections to the claim that "academic conferences are generally postponed due to concerns about anti-corruption." Liu Jun, deputy secretary-general of the County Health Development Research Center, stated in his WeChat Moments: "I also consulted several industry associations and got some information from friends. Perhaps there have indeed been some postponements and cancellations of academic conferences recently. However, more compliant academic activities are being carried out as scheduled. Compliant academic activities have never been the targets of anti-corruption rectification actions. I hope friends in the industry can think independently and not be confused by biased and generalized information."