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4w ago

Oncologist, Pharmacist and Consultant on Trial in Hamburg Over Alleged Cancer Drug Bribery and Fraud

Defendants deny allegations that they manipulated prescription reimbursements to extract more than €1.2 million from statutory health insurers.

Die drei Angeklagten (vorn 2.v.l., vorn 2.v.r. sowie hinten r.) sitzen neben ihren Anwälten im Ziviljustizgebäude in Hamburg.
Medikamente in einer Schublade in einer Apotheke.
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Overview

  • The Hamburg Regional Court began hearings on June 4 against a 63-year-old oncologist, a 59-year-old pharmacist and a 65-year-old business consultant accused of commercial bribery, corruption and fraud in the healthcare sector.
  • Prosecutors contend the oncologist accepted €157,500 in loans from the pharmacist between 2016 and 2021 in return for prescribing expensive custom-made cancer medications.
  • Investigators allege the oncologist also received about €1.5 million from the business consultant between February 2017 and November 2018 for directing prescriptions to an Aschaffenburg-linked pharmacy.
  • The indictment claims the pharmacist knowingly billed a statutory health insurer for non-reimbursable cytostatic prescriptions from October 2017 to December 2021, inflicting roughly €1.2 million in damage.
  • This proceeding is part of a broader federal probe into healthcare fraud in Germany, with related cases active in North Rhine-Westphalia and Hamburg.