00:00Today I'm going to talk about the more than 2.35 trillion pesos that the pharmaceutical industry transferred in
00:06Colombia to several health actors.
00:09This information has remained unpublished. Until now, we're revealing it here at El Espectador.
00:15And I'm sure that you, as patients, are interested.
00:19But a word of caution. Before telling you the story, we didn't know the amounts of these payments, but they are not illegal.
00:27In fact, we know about them because a few years ago, in 2018, there was an effort to make the process much more transparent.
00:34relationship between the pharmaceutical industry and the multiple actors in health.
00:39The government issued a regulation requiring companies that market medicines or medical devices to register all of those
00:48Payments made for various reasons to some clinics and hospitals, scientific associations, universities, and staff of the
00:56health.
00:56Like some doctors.
00:59What types of payments am I talking about?
01:01The list of these value transfers, as they are technically called, is extensive.
01:05This includes payments of fees to doctors for being, for example, speakers or guests at conferences of
01:12health.
01:13There are also the outlays made by the industry to support medical education programs and clinical trials.
01:20In other words, any trip or invitation to eat should be recorded in that record.
01:25I repeat, it is something that should not be demonized, as the presidents of the National Academy of Medicine told us or
01:31of the Colombian Association of Scientific Societies.
01:34Especially because they have multiple gray lines.
01:37That said, it includes fascinating discussions.
01:41For example, does this relationship affect the formulation of medications or the selection of specific brands?
01:48over others?
01:49Okay, let's get to the data we obtained largely thanks to the Center for Thought, Medicines, Information and Power of
01:57the National University,
01:58who had to file several petitions.
02:01Others of us requested them directly from El Espectador through the same channel to the Ministry of Health, in the previous government.
02:08I know, it's paradoxical.
02:10A rule designed to increase transparency, but none of the previous governments published absolutely anything.
02:16In the United States they did the same and since 2014 they have had a website for citizens to view those payments
02:23transparently.
02:25What these figures show between 2019 and 2024 is the following.
02:30First, while those transfers from industry to the world of health amounted to more than 169 billion
02:37pesos in 2019,
02:39In 2024 they were over 621 billion, more than the budget this government proposed for the Ministry
02:47of Science for 2027.
02:49Second, only 15 companies accounted for 60% of those transfers.
02:54The top 5 includes the heavyweights.
02:56MSB, Novartis, Novonordisk, Pfizer and AstraZeneca.
03:01The first one made transfers for more than 300 billion pesos.
03:06The second one for more than 119 billion.
03:08Third, the majority of all these disbursements they made, 29%, was for the payment of fees.
03:15An additional 459 billion was invested to finance academic events, congresses, symposia, and workshops.
03:23and another 383 billion went to finance clinical studies and health research.
03:29Of course, we talked to those five companies.
03:33They were all willing to answer our questions, and all of them said without exception that they made those transfers following
03:39Colombian regulations
03:41adhering to codes of ethics and transparency that they have developed in the sector and within each company.
03:48They also said they have taken steps to prevent this from creating conflicts of interest with doctors.
03:54and who deeply respect their judgment and autonomy.
03:58But on the other side of the coin, there are people who believe that beyond an outlay, an invitation
04:04to a medical conference,
04:05That relationship has been woven little by little.
04:08Carolina Gómez, the director of the Center for Thought at the National University, says it is something much deeper.
04:13It is a relationship that generates trust, that creates a bond and empathy that could influence the prescription.
04:19This refers, as Eduardo Díaz Amado, director of the Institute of Bioethics at the University, also told us.
04:25Javeriana,
04:26This close relationship, involving invitations and payments, can generate a cognitive bias.
04:32which people in the health field are not always fully aware of.
04:37Not all of them, of course.
04:39And there are cases that broaden the scope of the debate.
04:42For example, a research group that receives funding from pharmaceutical companies
04:46to advance projects that promote the appropriate use of generic medicines.
04:51Or one of the National Academy of Medicine awards, which are funded by industry.
04:56Colombian researchers acknowledge this, but they restrict companies from any type of advertising.
05:02There's a lot, a lot to unpack in this matter, but since time flies here,
05:08I recommend you visit the viewer health section.
05:11There you will find the report we did, which has a variety of interviews
05:15and more detailed data from those pharmaceutical company transparency reports.
05:20And follow us on our social media channels, because in another video we're going to tell you all about the medication.
05:26for which Colombia has paid more than 2 trillion pesos
05:31and the tremendous discussion that this is causing in the health system.
05:35Bye.
05:41Bye.
05:41Bye.
Comentarios