Always the little man.

[sinkov]

Intriguing story in the Telegraph,

"NHS officials took £70,000 drug company bribes, then ‘switched’ patients’ medication, court told
Paul Jerram and Dr David Turner are accused of breaching their positions and acting as ‘paid influencers’ for pharmaceutical companies"

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/202...ched-patients/

I imagine it's behind a paywall so here are some excerpts to give you the gist.

"Paul Jerram and Dr David Turner have been accused of arriving at surgeries claiming to be on official business and changing a patient’s medication – a practice known as “switching”.

James Hines QC prosecuting, told a trial at Southampton Crown Court that the two men had used their positions with the medicine management team of Isle of Wight Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and that if the doctors at the surgeries had known it was “not an official visit, they would have not allowed them to [make the changes]”.

“They were effectively using their position with the NHS to farm out the services of the medicine management team and they received money to do so,” the court was told.

Mr Jerram and Dr Turner allegedly acted as "paid influencers" for pharmaceutical companies by recommending medicines to GPs in exchange for "secret" payments.

Mr Jerram, of Shanklin, Isle of Wight, is charged with six counts of bribery and one count of corruption while Dr Turner, of Ventnor on the Isle of Wight, is charged with five counts of bribery.

The case arose after an undercover investigation by the Telegraph in 2015, which exposed how senior NHS were being paid thousands of pounds and taken on expensive trips by drug companies lobbying to get their products used by the health service.

Jurors were told the NHS officials were paid by businessman Noel Staunton, whose consultancy firm represented pharmaceutical companies.

As a result of their ‘corrupt’ seven-year scheme, the court heard the ‘integrity’ of NHS doctors making honest recommendations about prescription drugs was breached and medicines were improperly pushed to GP surgeries and advisory boards.

Health service pharmacist Cathal Daly - who is also accused of accepting ‘backhanders’ - is also part of the group now on trial.

Mr Staunton, 60, was ‘very handsomely paid’ by his pharmaceutical company clients through his company 3i Consultancy and was long-term friends with Mr Jerram.

Mr Staunton, who received tens of thousands of pounds from drug-makers, is accused of paying the pair to promote drugs manufactured by his clients, such as cholesterol drugs and ointments."

A shocking story of greed and corruption isn't it, but the piece also reveals that the total sum involved was £68.750 over a period of 8 years and there are four of them on trial. It averages out at just over £2k a year for each of them, hardly life changing sums, hardly it seems worth the effort and risk. And where was the money coming from, who were the real beneficiaries of this little scam ? The drug companies whose products they were pushing of course, Big Pharma, or perhaps in this case not quite so Big Pharma, nevertheless the most telling/significant sentence in the entire piece was this one,

"The drugs companies are not accused of any wrongdoing, Mr Hines QC said."

Of course not, it's always the little men, the middle men, that take the rap, that's how Big Pharma works.

[The Bedlington Terrier]

Its like trying to nail a jellyfish to a tiled wall is attempting to bring any of the big pharmaceutical corporations to account mon ami.

[Swissclaret]

Whilst they have done wrong, it was Big Pharma that stood to gain the most. It is a sad reality that the small person is the easy target. Big Pharma can afford to have lawyers in abundance to tie the prosecution up in knots - costing the tax payer millions should Big Pharma be brought to trial. The Prosecution Service does not have the resources to take them on. So they don’t bother. They have won a case. Box ticked. Move on. In the meantime, Big Pharma will find someone else to use.

[sinkov]

I doubt we'll ever get to the bottom of this one,

"Ursula von der Leyen hauled over the coals after refusing to publish text messages to Pfizer chief.
Watchdog takes European Commission president to task over private messages that led to deal to buy Covid vaccines."

Pfizer will be making billions supplying vaccines to the EU, how much Ursula made out of it, we'll never know, on that you can be assured.

[Swissclaret]

I doubt we'll ever get to the bottom of this one,

"Ursula von der Leyen hauled over the coals after refusing to publish text messages to Pfizer chief.
Watchdog takes European Commission president to task over private messages that led to deal to buy Covid vaccines."

Pfizer will be making billions supplying vaccines to the EU, how much Ursula made out of it, we'll never know, on that you can be assured.

I agree, sinkov. The stench of corruption is never far away when huge sums are involved. They are all in league with each other in perpetuating the situation. Governments are getting to control people in a way that has rarely been seen before and the politicians, being “more equal than other” are enjoying the power. The so-called experts who are usually miles out with their Armageddon like predictions don’t want to give up their 15 minutes of fame, whilst Big Pharma rakes in billions. Precedents are being set on to control the people, how to force people to accept restrictions and injections, how to punish non-compliance with the orthodoxy. Those precedents will be used again and again, I am sure.

[ClaretinBudapest]

I doubt we'll ever get to the bottom of this one,

"Ursula von der Leyen hauled over the coals after refusing to publish text messages to Pfizer chief.
Watchdog takes European Commission president to task over private messages that led to deal to buy Covid vaccines."

Pfizer will be making billions supplying vaccines to the EU, how much Ursula made out of it, we'll never know, on that you can be assured.

Darling Ursula has a history with regard to corruption Sinkov.She forgot to account for over a 100m € paid out to advisory companies whilst she was the defense minister in Germany.She is still under investigation but who cares makes her fully qualified for the top job in the EU.