2007 report on ‘medics for sale’ shelved

Senior Department of Health officials were warned almost a decade ago that private firms were using “hospitality” to influence hospital workers and doctors — but instead of acting shelved the detailed Oireachtas report.

The situation was outlined in a 55-page April 2007 Dáil health committee investigation over serious concerns about alleged medical conflicts of interests.

The group’s then chair Fine Gael TD Liam Twomey said the Adverse Side-Effects of Pharmaceuticals document was not acted on by officials.

While the Wexford representative — who yesterday confirmed he will not seek re-election for personal reasons — said the issue related specifically to drug firms’ focus on medical workers, he noted similarities to the current scandal in the sector.

The report said pharmaceutical companies regularly target doctors and influential hospital officials with “hospitality”, such as trips to foreign conferences and expensive gifts.

The reason, the report said, was because doctors and hospitals are then more likely to sign up to certain medications.

The document also raised concerns over drugs regulation, clinical trial transparency, the reporting of adverse reactions, and indirect advertising to patients, warning all of the issues needed to be addressed immediately.

However, despite raising the issues and calling for a patient safety agency to be set up to independently assess the situation, Dr Twomey said the report was not acted on.

While the issues were finally resolved early this year on the back of an EU-wide policy which the TD said means “firms can’t even give you a biro now”, Dr Twomey said the report was left “shelved” for eight years.

“Nothing happened,” he said. “Things have changed now around that because of the EU policy, you can’t be given free samples now, biros, there is no such thing as bringing your wife to a foreign conference and conferences have to be recognised and in your field.

“It [the report] was done because the system was being abused. The current hospitals issue is different, it looks like a company supplying services getting contracts and information. But it shows all public bodies need to be very tight. There is too much money spent in the system.”

Among the issues raised in the April 2007 report was that in the previous 12 years the amount of money the State spent on drugs had risen from €1.3bn to €1.7bn — an issue partially related to the pharmaceutical industry’s promotional and hospitality tactics on doctors to “accept companies’ research findings too readily”.

Lack of clinical trial independence or transparency also played a role, it argued, while it said a “register of ‘significant’ benefits” such as overnight stays in foreign cities paid for by external firms should be set up.

The apparent inaction until an EU policy demand eight years later, emerged as two Oireachtas groups said they will bring in officials linked to the current scandal next week.

The cross-party health and public accounts committees both laid claim to the issue, saying they want answers from Beacon Hospital, St Vincent’s Hospital and the HSE.

Health Minister Leo Varadkar has separately described the current issue — involving the the provision of sensitive information to medical supplies firms including competitors’ price lists by hospital staff — as being “driven by greed”.