The representatives come out and tell: «Sometimes to beat the competition the seller has to submit to the requests». They talk about "undergrowth" Stephen Benci, 49 years old and (20 career, Segr. Sez. Fedaiisf Firenze), Victor Courts (57 years and 26 working in the sector, President of the Fedaiisf Section) e James Navarre (57 years old, 30 working).
Of Conrad Benzio
25 November 2014 – THE TYRRHENIAN LIVORNO
FLORENCE. There is the undergrowth of the "assisted" prescription, i.e. the representative who anoints the doctor. But there is also «the shark doctor» who almost forces the seller to give various gifts.
They talk about "undergrowth" Stephen Benci, 49 years old and (20 career, Segr. Sez. Fedaiisf Firenze), Victor Courts (57 years and 26 working in the sector, President of the Fedaiisf Section) e James Navarre (57 years old, 30 working). The «shark doctor» is a figure described by Massimo Viti, 50 years old, representative of Mellin in the pharmacies of mid-Tuscany. People who have decided to put their face, their name (and an immaculate record) to tell what the double scandal that is upsetting Tuscan healthcare is hiding. First the accusations against cardiologists for the purchase of pacemakers and stents and then the "roundup" of the 12 paediatricians because they pushed - it is the accusation - on artificial milk.
«I am a commercial agent - says Viti who works in Florence, Prato, Pistoia - for Mellin I follow the pharmacies. My commission is 2%. It may seem little, but you have to look at the turnover. I follow all the pharmacies, from large to small. I say without a problem that I take the pharmacists to lunch and unload the bills in the entertainment expenses. I operate correctly and my battle is only commercial. On prices, on a more visible display, etc».
What about colleagues who got into trouble? “Mellin has never pushed bottle-feeding. And if some colleague feels at war with the competitors, if he is thrown out by a pediatrician and thinks of winning him back in some way…. If he's faced with a shark doctor, he can act like him."
Stefano Benci is an operator of Roche, one of the giants of Big Pharma, a Swiss multinational. He is also a trade unionist in the category. «In the meantime, let's distinguish the roles – he begins – we are drug informants, hired by the company under the chemists' contract. We have incentives, but in the end the salary is still the same. Commercial agents live, instead of commissions. Which travel on the 5%, but in reality they vary according to the turnover».
The Bonaccini family, the three arrested (father and two sons) by the Florence prosecutor's office for "Cuore d'oro", at one point speaks of a commission of 3-400 thousand euros for a contract for cardiac stents. «So let's explain – adds Vittorio Corti – how the Italian health system works. 50% of the expenditure goes to medicines, the other 50% to aids and diagnostics. The tender specifications for drugs are very strict».
On principals it seems not. «There is still greater discretion - Benci confirms - that the Region, at least in Tuscany, is trying to remedy. Our battle I speak of drugs when it comes to tenders is on the quality of the product and on the price ».
And it is a battle with no holds barred (lawful). Benci shows a Roche product. It is an anticancer used in breast cancer. Herceptin Sc is a chemotherapy drug. Official price, including VAT, is 2,871 euros and 68 cents for a session. But the ASL is offered for tenders at 1,583 euros and 39. Less than half. «Look out that the prices of medicines in Italy – underlines Benci – are lower than abroad. In addition, the state has been cutting the health budget for two years..."
But how do your companies help sales? They give you promotion money, giveaways for doctors. Corti pulls flowers a pen. “These are the tributes we can pay. Then there are the conferences. And this is where clarity is needed. The conferences are first authorized by the Ministry. Once the validity has been assessed, companies can invite doctors. Starting next year, the large groups will put all the contributions given to healthcare professionals online to participate in the conferences. Ensuring greater transparency".
If everything is so clear, why do these scandals explode? In certain moments it is almost a pochade. With what the raincoat wants is the other the Spanish Pata Negra. Benci is lapidary. «An undergrowth resists, also linked to products such as supplements and low-level drugs. And that's where it goes wrong. For us it is different. The ethical code of our pharmaceutical companies in the face of only dubious cases provides for the recall and then the dismissal ».
But the Bonaccini brothers worked for Sorin, a company that has a name in Italy. «In fact, in wiretaps they get alarmed when a doctor asks for a flight and hotel for the whole family in Paris by sending an email directly to Sorin and not to them. But those who work on their own, as in the case of the Bonaccinis who are commercial agents, can do whatever they want. In the sense that they can offer trips or whatever».
Viti, the man from Mellin explains: «When I take a pharmacist to lunch, I spend 60 euros for two, I take the invoice and deduct it. You don't get rich with this job." It sure is risky. The Public Prosecutor's Office of Massa opened an investigation three years ago because it discovered that orthopaedists brought hip replacement sellers into the operating room. News that caused a sensation. But that Stefano Benci resizes. “There is nothing strange. On the contrary, it is useful to have someone who knows that product well in the operating room. And it was not the representatives who operated ».
We close with the story of Tantum verde, a mouthwash. When it was removed from the "handbook" and ended up among the over-the-counter products, it allowed the representatives large profits. "What happened? That the commissions – explains Corti – were cut from 5 to 3.5%».
It's the trade, honey.
Related news: Pediatricians arrested: «“Inflated” invoices and black funds: here is the mechanism» An informant recounts: business dinners and counterfeit accounts. «The cash reserve is used to push the products»
Pediatricians arrested, off to the first interrogations in front of the investigating magistrate
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Dear Colleagues
We point out the article that appeared today in "Il Tirreno" where the positions of our section expressed in the letter that we sent.
We would like to clarify that obviously our stance is aimed at:
1) to protect the figure of the drug's scientific representative who are unrelated to the affair
2) claim the need for employment contracts less subject to the "sales-salary" combination
We are far from intending to harm colleagues who currently carry out their work under "atypical" contracts for the role of scientific informants of the drug (Law 219 of 2006) indeed, exactly the opposite, claiming for them too the right to have a contract and a classification within the national contract for chemists.
However, we are available for the considerations of any of you
A warm greeting
Aiisf directive section of Florence & Prato
