Novartis may face product sales ban in South Korea

Source: nai500 2016-08-13 Novartis, a Swiss pharmaceutical company, is facing new pressure in South Korea, and some popular drugs may be suspended Earlier, several executives of the company were accused of illegally offering kickbacks South Korean prosecutors have asked the government to temporarily seize the operation of Novartis South Korea, where six executives, including the president, have been accused of offering 2.6 billion won (US $2.4 million) in illegal kickbacks between 2011 and 2016 The case involved 34 people, including 15 doctors and directors of five medical journals This week, the prosecutor's office for the western region of South Korea said Novartis offered kickbacks to doctors attending meetings and other events organized by the medical journals South Korea's food and drug safety administration said Thursday it will punish Novartis and related personnel in accordance with the law after further investigation According to South Korean medical regulations, companies that use kickbacks as bait to prompt doctors to prescribe drugs may face up to six months of product ban Prosecutors are also calling on the health sector to reduce the price of related drugs, which the Ministry of health can directly regulate through the national medical insurance system At the same time, the prosecution also asked the health department to revoke the license of doctors who illegally obtained kickbacks Novartis is one of the largest multinational pharmaceutical companies operating in South Korea, with sales of 455 billion won last year In terms of sales, Korea is Novartis' tenth largest market In 2006, Novartis South Korea was fined 7.1 billion won for illegal kickbacks and 2.3 billion won in 2011 Industry insiders point out that although the government is trying to crack down on illegal kickbacks to avoid rising drug prices, kickbacks provided by pharmaceutical companies to doctors using their products are common in South Korea In February this year, South Korean prosecutors raided the office of Novartis' South Korean branch to investigate illegal kickbacks Recently, South Korean prosecutors raided the office of an industry lobbying organization to investigate illegal kickbacks involving multinational drug companies Novartis South Korea on Tuesday admitted that some executives were involved in illegal activities, but denied being sanctioned Novartis said it would take measures to solve the problem English source: