The former president of the Bordeaux University Hospital Health Products Commission was sentenced by the city’s criminal court to a fine of €100,000, including €25,000 firm, for illegal taking of interest, reported South West this Monday, October 3.
Between 2015 and 2018, this pharmacy specialist had undeclared links with the MSD laboratory while she held a key position in the choice of drugs at the center.
Many links of interest
It was the French Anti-Corruption Agency (Afa) which concluded in 2018 that this link of interest between the professor and the pharmaceutical industry. In five years, the pharmacist had received nearly €37,000 in benefits from MSD, six expertise agreements and €3,200 in remuneration. At the same time, she had also become, without declaring it to the CHU, the vice-president of an association of doctors whose operation was financed by MSD.
According to an Afa report, many doctors do not ask for authorization for ancillary activity and very few would be required to declare their interests. When contacted, the Bordeaux University Hospital indicated that it had “significantly strengthened” its conflict of interest prevention policy since 2018.
The issue of undeclared conflicts of interest between medical personnel and the pharmaceutical industry regularly drives public debate. The subject, which has rarely led to court convictions, has been particularly significant throughout the Covid-19 crisis, with doctors invited to television sets being regularly criticized for their links of interest with various pharmaceutical companies.