The scandal of fictitious drug reimbursements has marked a strong development. The Tirana Prosecutor's Office has raided the premises of the CFO Pharma company, seizing practically all the inventory and reimbursement documentation. Kapitali has learned that the action was ordered by prosecutor Ndini Tavani, while the company's premises have been surrounded by police forces since yesterday.
A source told Kapital that the seizures have also been extended to two satellite companies of CFO Pharma, Pharma Plus and Medyx Albania. The prosecution suspects that the three companies are involved in a scheme of false invoices and fictitious sales of medicines in order to obtain reimbursements. At the center of the investigation are two medications used for asthma, called Foster and Trimbow respectively.
Both of these medications are supplied to the Albanian market exclusively by the Italian manufacturer Chiesi. But a few months ago, the company was stunned when it received reimbursement figures in Albania, which were significantly higher than the quantities it had supplied of the two medications.
The scandal broke out in public after an investigation by Kapital, which was initially denied by CFO Pharma. But now the matter has gone beyond media reporting and the prosecution has seized CFO Pharma's premises by court order.
The Foster and Trimbow regimens
are two medications used to treat asthma. Both of these drugs are exclusive products, meaning they have only one supplier in the Albanian market, the Italian company Chiesi.
Consequently, the reimbursement figures for these medicines by FSDKSH must fully match those sold in Albania by the Italian manufacturing company.
But according to documents obtained by Kapital, for the period 2021 to the first months of this year, the Mandatory Health Insurance Fund has reimbursed about 20 thousand more boxes of the drug Foster pompe than the Italian company supplied, and tens of thousands more of the drug Trimbow.
Faced with this scandal, the Italians investigated further to understand who was harming them. Their investigations revealed a gigantic scheme of theft with fictitious reimbursements, at the center of which stands the company CFO Pharma, two of its satellite companies, Pharma plus and Medyx Albania, as well as several pharmacies.
More specifically, Pharma Plus is suspected of having declared an inventory of over 3,200 boxes of Foster and Trimbow, without any purchases of these products. While Medyx has declared over 16,000 boxes without making any purchases.
After fictitiously declaring these medications in their inventories, both companies, Pharma Plus and Medyx, are suspected of having fictitiously sold them to CFO Pharmas, and the chain of fictitious sales ended in several pharmacies, unjustly stealing reimbursement money.
Editorial
