The Administration for Market Regulation of Jing’an District in Shanghai (AMR) on May 7 announced an administrative penalty decision against the Shanghai branch of a multinational pharmaceutical company for speaking fees it paid to physicians. According to the decision, the AMR found that the speeches in question never actually occurred and that the “speaking fees” were actually bribes. The AMR held that the physicians had utilized their official positions to unduly influence patients to purchase medical products promoted by the company branch, and that the payment of the fees constituted commercial bribery in violation of Article 7, Section 1(i) of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People’s Republic of China.
The payment of speaking fees in the pharmaceutical industry has attracted heightened scrutiny from the Chinese government in recent years, and this case is not the first time the Shanghai AMR has targeted the practice. Read the full LawFlash for more details.