Former Turkish employees admit irregularities at Japanese drug company

Burak Coşan - ISTANBUL

Former employees of the Japanese drug company Daiichi Sankyo have claimed that some senior executives of the firm committed wrongdoings in operations in Turkey. 

Following an internal investigation, Daiichi Sankyo sacked some executives, the company told daily Hürriyet.

The former employees, who appealed to the Communications Center of the Presidency (CİMER), alleged that senior executives exerted pressure on pharmaceutical representatives that work on the field to obtain information regarding doctors.

According to the former employees, the reason behind the pressure on the representatives was that the executives wanted to know which drugs the doctors were prescribing to patients, even though such information is confidential.

The former staff claimed that the information regarding the prescriptions was sent to the executives via emails or WhatsApp.

The information regarding the prescribed drugs was allegedly collected from doctors’ computers, hospitals and pharmacies.

According to the former employees, the senior executives “rewarded” the doctors who prescribed more of the drugs produced by Daiichi Sankyo than other doctors.

As reward, the executives allegedly invited doctors, who prescribed more Daiichi Sankyo drugs, to congresses – with all expenses covered – or bought tickets for sports events.

Internal investigation

Following the complaints from former employees, Daiichi Sankyo’s headquarters launched an investigation into the operations of the Turkey branch. The consultancy firm Ernst & Young also probed the allegations.

After the inspection carried out by both the company itself and Ernst & Young, Daiichi Sankyo fired some of the executives.

Laws regulate relations between pharmaceutical companies and doctors. Under the existing regulations, drug companies are not allowed to hand out gifts or organize trips for doctors. But it has long been claimed that drug companies violate those regulations.