The public and the private, the patents and health: Study of pharmaceutical companies fraud in Italy compared to the Brazilian legislation

Abstract

 This article discusses the obstacles to economic regulation of medicines trade in Brazil. The theme focuses on the case of two Italian companies of the pharmaceutical industry which got involved in the practice of collusion in order to fraud the health system, and the existence of evidences of this practice in Brazil. The practice of this crime against the economic and financial order affected the very organization of the Italian public health system, and the companies were considered guilty of illegal practice. This case resumes the discussion about the need of state intervention in the economy: both from the point of view of trade regulations and the monitoring of what the drug retailers actually offer to the population, with the aim of fostering human dignity, which includes the State’s protection to health. This research aims at systematizing the duplicity of patent registration in the Italian case, approaching in parallel the economic regulations in Brazil regarding drugs, as well as criminalization of collusion in this area, and then test the research hypothesis that the same business behavior has also been practiced in Brazil. This research is guided by the hypothetical-deductive method, providing the reader with a systematization of the case at issue and concepts through bibliographic and documental research (books, international newspapers, scientific magazines, scientific articles, the involved drugs description leaflets and Brazilian legislation about the subject) to finally discuss the facts.