A story dating back to 2012 is once again circulating on the net but which is recycled and presented as news in an almost cyclical way, always having a certain virality on social networks. A report on Swiss television would have revealed a scandal involving the pharmaceutical company Sandoz that no one would have talked about in the traditional media. What "nobody says" really is that they were all acquitted.
In reality, as we shall see, at the time of the events the newspapers spoke of the scandal involving the scientific informants of Sandoz, so much so that the same conspiracy sites contradict each other by quoting articles from national newspapers. In 2012 the Nas of Bologna coordinated an investigation 
which also involved the public prosecutors of Rimini and Busto Arsizio (Varese), concerned an alleged network of health informants who allegedly bribed numerous doctors to prescribe growth hormones to children.
The shock service of Swiss television
The Swiss television service that blew up the case in the media has been uploaded to YouTube by various channels that wink at questionable alternative theories, including on vaccines. At the time in Italy several newspapers dealt with it, among which Daily fact, also reporting the statements of the Carabinieri colonel Antonio Diomeda, deputy commander of the Nas:
“It's not the first and, I'm afraid, it won't be the last investigation of this type… but the scenario that emerges this time is particularly alarming. It is a criminal and perverse relationship that had been established between scientific informants and doctors, aimed at encouraging the consumption of certain biosimilar drugs in exchange for sums of money (later passed on as fees for consultancy and studies, donations to non-profit associations, reimbursement of expenses for congresses and conventions, editor's note), travel in Italy and abroad for doctors and their families and objects such as jewelery and personal computers“.
The confessions of one of the pharmaceutical company's informants were quite heavy:
“There were considerable pressures. We were the latest arrivals in a market that in Italy belongs to the 97% to other companies and the sale was pushed ... It is not the informant who has the means to economically manage a multinational. Consultations for doctors, contributions to departments, everything is evaluated in detail by an internal committee, the SP3, which is attended by top management and the company lawyer who then endorses everything“.
What emerged during the first investigations
12 scientific informants of Sandoz were accused, who allegedly bribed several doctors with sums of money and gifts, to dispense the prescription of growth hormones to children. In all, 67 doctors from at least 40 public and private clinics were involved. The first investigations revealed the existence of a "proven organization" aimed at increasing the sales of some drugs intended for the treatment of growth disorders. This would have led to the production of false documentation by the alleged corrupt doctors, where the donations of money were due to consultancy, congresses, seminars and business trips.
After several years, the tariff that would have been applied by Sandoz's scientific representatives also emerged: at least two thousand euros for each new patient, many of these would have been children. However, the amount could vary depending on the type of therapy. The Nas allegedly also seized a «Confidential Memorandum» dated February 7, 2012, where the top management of Sandoz contested the «unlawful conduct» of some employees. Indeed, the pharmaceutical company does not appear to be involved, on the contrary it collaborated in the investigation, also handing out fines to the employees involved.
Novartis complaint and acquittal for lack of evidence
In the end, 80 people were registered in the register of suspects, including 64 doctors, as reported in 2014 the site of the Federation of drug and parapharmaceutical sales representatives' associations (Fedaiisf):
In recent weeks, the first phase of the investigations was concluded and the public prosecutor Mirko Monti asked for the indictment and trial of 41 white coats, including two Genoese university students ... 12 scientific informants, - managers, commercial managers - are also heading for trial and area managers who are on the payroll or have worked for Sandoz. The crimes charged to all range, for various reasons, from fraud against the National Health Service, to corruption in comparison.
What the sites that relaunch this news often forget is that the investigation started from a complaint by the multinational Novartisof which it belongs the Sandoz. The pharmaceutical company fired all the employees involved, but in 2017 the sentence of the court of Busto Arsizio was not guilty, in fact all acquitted for lack of evidence. But nobody talks about this.
