translated from Spanish: Cenabast contracts in sight: ask to review millionaires of drug purchases in the Corbeaux era

PS deputy and member of the House Health Commission, Juan Luis Castro, urged “review and repeal Cenabast contracts linked to conflict of interest.” Castro’s darts point directly to the management of Juan Carlos Corbeaux in the entity, whose bulging and dark purchases of medical supplies were exposed in a series of reports of El Mostrador.
On 14 June, and after a management marked by conflicts of interest, Corbeaux was removed from his position as technical coordinator of The Supply of Cenabast in one of the first decisions taken by Health Minister Jaime Mañalich when resuing in the Portfolio. During his tenure, Corbeaux was the strongman of the institution – he even presented himself as a “delegate” of the entity – however his management was in question given that according to figures delivered by the NGO Observatory of Fiscal Expenditure, during the management of Corbeaux , the GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) laboratory – his former employer, where he was general manager – increased its drug sales to the state exponentially.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) went from approximately 17 billion pesos (annual average during Michelle Bachelet’s four years of government) to more than 45 billion pesos, in 2018 alone, mostly through the questioned and controversial “direct treatment” mechanism, which prevents competition from other potential bidders.
As Mr. Castro recalls, one of the most emblematic cases is the million-dollar purchase of medicines to treat HIV/AIDS that Cenabast made for direct treatment of the Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK) laboratory. It is Kivexa, a drug based on the generics Abacavir sulfate and Lamivudine of which there are other similar health records under names such as Exemvir, Lamaba, Rivax, Selmivir and Abacavir/ Lamivudine.
For this reason, Mr Castro argues that the new authority to take over the Cenabast should “review and repeal” these contracts. “It would be logical because they were done under an administration that was not impartial, which was not neutral in the face of conflict. I hope that’s what comes happen,” he emphasized.
The parliamentarian insisted that “it seems to me at least that Minister Mañalich departed with the right thing, which was to remove someone who could not have the freedom to be able to conduct such a powerful state activity, so great in volume of purchase of remedies, having a history of such direct ties to private industry.”
Castro added that the Cenabast modernization plan announced by Minister Mañalich himself has on alert suppliers and all industry players who would have been harmed not only because they were unable to participate in the processes of corbeaux’s tender suppressed on the grounds that there was “only one supplier.” They also allege that the former official tied up million-dollar contracts for the advance purchase of medicines available to other bidders, which could lead to significant tax damage.

Original source in Spanish