Drug agency managers probed

(ANSA) - Rome, November 14 - Several managers at the national drug agency AIFA have been placed under investigation for allegedly defrauding the national health system, police said Thursday.
    The AIFA directors allegedly put limits on prescriptions of a cheap drug to treat eye diseases, provoking 200 million euros in damages to the NHS in terms of higher costs.
    The suspects, as well as managers, include temporary members of a technical consultative panel, police said.
    The prescription of Avastin, the cheaper eye drug, was limited in favour of a dearer one, Lucentis, police said.
    This was despite the fact that clinical tests showed they had practically identical effects.
    Avastin was not included on the list of reimbursable products until 2014 and afterwards, until at least 2017, a series of "unjustified limitations" were placed on its use.
    The case is being handled by the Audit Court.
    The total of 200 million euros is a sum of the difference in price of individual dos of the two drugs, between 600 and 730 euros, finance police said.