Healthy Skepticism Library item: 14114

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Publication type: Journal Article

Editorial .
Clean hands, please
Nature 2008 Aug 7; 454:(7205):667
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v454/n7205/full/454667b.html

Abstract:

The Italian government needs to maintain a careful distance from industry.

Fifteen years ago, at the height of Italy’s ‘Clean Hands’ anticorruption campaign, police broke into the house of Duilio Poggiolini, head of the national committee for drug registration, and discovered gold bullion under his floorboards. For many Italians, the image of that gleaming bullion still resonates – an enduring symbol of a time when government officials, up to and including the health minister, routinely took bribes from the pharmaceutical industry to approve drugs and fix their prices.

Steps were taken to avoid such a situation arising again. So it is worrying that Nello Martini, a pharmacist with no political associations, has been removed by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s
new government as head of AIFA, the autonomous agency created in 2004 to register drugs and supervise their use…

Notes:

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