Blogs

Stay informed with expert insights, trends, and best practices in life sciences compliance.

Merck USA’s Compliance Analytics Journey: A Case Study

How does a member of the Big Pharma Club manage to have a sophisticated Compliance/Transparency Platform? Is the picture complicated while overseeing the information needs of a global firm with annual sales exceeding $10.1 billion (Q4 2016)? Our friends from Merck USA responded to both questions in a qordata webinar they presented in March 2017. […]

Managing Consent With a Real-Time Database Solution

A major concern for pharma manufacturers in the EU when submitting their spend is that of duplication of data. The reason behind this concern is that of the risk it poses to their reputation and relationship with HCPs. However, duplication of data can be avoided by verifying it with HCPs before making the data public. In […]

FCA Civil Penalties Increased by the Department of Justice Again

The Department of Justice announced on February 3, 2017, that penalties for the False Claims Act (FCA) will be increasing once again, effective immediately. The minimum per-claim penalty will increase from $10, 781 to $10,957 as a pursuant to the 2015 budget bill that calls for annual re-indexing of FCA penalties for inflation. On the […]

New Transparency Reporting Obligations Enacted by the Belgian Government

The government of Belgium enacted new legislation governing transparency reporting on December 27, 2016. The new legislation is known as The Sunshine Act. The law now deems it necessary for pharma manufacturers, retailers, medical device manufacturers, and even importers and distributors to disclose information about their interactions with HCPs and HCOs. This information has to […]

Shire Settles Kickback Allegations with $350 Million

Shire Pharmaceuticals, an Ireland-based global specialty biopharmaceutical company, has agreed to pay $350 million to settle allegations of paying kickbacks. It was alleged that the company bribed physicians and clinics to lure them into using its diabetic ulcer treatment. As stated by A. Lee Bentley, the U.S. Attorney General for the Middle District of Florida, […]

A Pharmaceutical Company’s Offices in Athens Were Raided by Prosecutors

Swiss drug maker Novartis is in trouble as its offices in Athens were raided by corruption prosecutors a few days ago. The raid was part of an ongoing investigation conducted over allegations of bribery. According to sources, a thorough search focused on gathering electronic data and documents in line with the probe was requested by […]