A drug licences-for-cash scandal has engulfed Italy’s medicines regulatory agency with leading officials arrested along with people linked to major pharmaceutical companies.

The most senior figure to have been held is Pasqualino Rossi, vice-president of Aifa (the Italian Agency for Pharmaceuticals). Dr Rossi is also one of Italy’s most senior representatives at the European Medicines Agency.

Five drugs company lobbyists have also been arrested, and an eighth person is being sought. Arrest warrants were issued after Turin’s investigating judge Sandra Recchione saw a 400-word police report suggesting money had changed hands in return for the falsification of clinical data required for drug licences.

At the centre of the investigation are licences awarded to around 30 medications, mostly thought to be generic products. The two-year investigation, centred on Turin, Rome (where AIFA headquarters are based), Padova and Alessandria, involved use of wire-tapping, and convert cameras.

Fonte -> pharmatimes.com