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Chinese local authorities are taking actions to crack down corruption in the pharmaceutical industry after the national regulator pledged to step up anti-corruption efforts in the fields.
As of August 8, at least four provincial health regulatory departments, including that in Jiangsu province, Shanghai city, Beijing city and Hainan province, have taken action against corruption in the pharmaceutical field, according to the authorities’ public announcements.
For instance, the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission said on Tuesday that 13 government departments in the city has jointly issued a notice in which medical institutions are required to rectify wrongdoings in medicine procurement and marketing, focusing on high-value medical consumables, “red packet”, kickbacks, etc, during the period of July – October this year.
Earlier this week, it’s reported that China’s National Audit Office in May – July sent an audit team to Guangdong province and the team conducted an audit investigation into the production, distribution and use of pharmaceuticals and high-value medical consumables in the province, reported Chinese news outlet Jiemian, citing an investigation report.
The investigation found issues including black box operations, detachment from reality and lack of management in policy execution, market player management and drug administration and required rectification, showed the report.
During the period, three pharmaceutical manufacturers, namely Livzon Pharmaceutical, Apichope and Efong Pharmaceutical, a subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed China Traditional Chinese Medicine Holdings Co. Ltd paid fees to 1,936 third-party business promotion companies for 4.077 billion yuan in the name of service fees, in order to increase the comprehensive cost of drug production and push up factory-gate prices, the report said.
In addition, disciplinary inspection departments in Tibet Autonomous Region, Shaanxi province, Shanxi province and Shandong province have made public statements to support the anti-corruption campaign.
That came after the National Health Commission last month held a video conference with other government departments including the National Audit Office, the Ministry of Public Security, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, the State Administration of Market Regulation, etc, to arrange one-year national crackdown on corruption in the pharmaceutical fields.