Italy's medicines agency chief suspended in corruption probe

Nello Martini, the head of Italy's medicines agency AIFA, has been suspended after a Turin court accepted an application for his removal from magistrates investigating corruption allegations.

Caterina Gualano, the head of marketing authorisations and the number two at the agency, has also been suspended. Both AIFA officials have been relieved of their duties for a period of two months. There are doubts about whether either will return to their former roles at the agency.

Politicians have called for a complete reorganisation of the medicines agency after the allegations by magistrates that drugs authorisation procedures were influenced by kickback payments and gifts. There have also been unconfirmed press reports suggesting that a panel of experts will be appointed to run the agency in the interim.

In her order suspending the two AIFA officials, the judge at the Turin court, Emanuela Recchione, said it was the serious nature of the evidence that had convinced her to agree to the magistrates" suspension applications.

The judge is reported to have noted in her order that the period between the request for a drug marketing authorisation variation and the approval being granted should be only 60-90 days. But the magistrates are said to have shown that, in some cases, it was as long as seven years.

"Even when authorisation for variation was given, AIFA allowed (companies) to sell off stocks (with the old label) in most of the cases," the judge is reported to have written in the order.

The main part of the investigation has now been transferred from Turin to Rome. Magistrates there are reported to be seeking to establish if charges of "culpable disaster" could be brought against Martini on account of his failure to ensure that potentially dangerous drugs did not remain on the market.

The Italian government was already preparing for a reform of several healthcare agencies. The cabinet recently approved a draft bill empowering the government to restructure all agencies supervised by the health ministry, including AIFA and the superior health institute. Originally it was planned to reorganise them as a costs saving measure.