According to TV List sources, the current Minister of Health Petr Arenberger (for YES) collected millions of crowns for clinical studies of new drugs, which he did not report in his property declarations. He carried out the study on a trade license as a cosmetic service, which according to the law he cannot. They write about the TV List finding on the News List website. Arenberger of the List said that he handled clinical trials as part of his scientific activities in accordance with a trade license. The Minister of the List did not answer the question regarding the amount of income from clinical trials. He also left unanswered the question why he does not state the mentioned incomes in property declarations.
Arenberger has been operating a dermatology surgery in Prague for 20 years. It focuses on clinical trials of new drugs that pharmaceutical companies order from hospitals and specialists. According to the sources of Television Seznam, between 150,000 and 200,000 crowns are paid for one patient in a clinical study. The database of the State Institute for Drug Control (SÚKL) shows that the Arenberger Sanatorium has been involved in 38 studies in the last three years. According to the List, the number of patients who participated in these studies could not be determined from public sources. According to the List, Arenberger has been engaged in clinical trials privately since at least 2004, and their number has only grown significantly in the last three years.
According to the List, Arenberger was to declare the income in the property declarations which he must file as a member of the management of the Vinohrady hospital. Arenberger has been running a skin clinic there since 2001, and a year later he became deputy director of science and research. On October 1, 2019, he was appointed director of the hospital. In six notifications, which he submitted since 2017, but as a secondary activity he mentions only a job at the Faculty of Medicine and a trade in the field of cosmetic services. According to the website, they do not report revenues for clinical trials, which is contrary to the Conflict of Interest Act.
“A public official is obliged to report any monetary income or other property benefits he has acquired during the term of office during the reporting period. This includes income from business activities, income from participation in a legal entity and trades,” the head of the conflict department quotes interests and the fight against corruption of the Ministry of Justice Jiří Kapras.
According to Seznam, the Sanatorium of Professor Arenberger is most often mentioned in the documents of clinical studies as the medical facility where the tests take place. According to the List, however, they actually carry them out as a self-employed person providing cosmetic services. “I dealt with clinical trials as part of my scientific activities, in accordance with the trade license,” Seznam Arenberger told Television. prevention or diagnosis, ie health services. At the same time, the Trade Licensing Act directly stipulates that the activity of doctors in the provision of health services is not a trade, “said Seznam to Brunclíková.
Arenberger told Seznam that in his private practice he had conducted studies that would not pay off for the Vinohrady hospital. “Clinical trials are being carried out in my surgery, which would not be profitable in relation to the Royal Vinohrady University Hospital, because a very small number of subjects are always included in these clinical trials,” said Minister of the List. However, according to the opposition MP and doctor Vlastimil Válek, such a procedure is extremely unusual.
Arenberger has been Minister of Health since April 7 this year, the fourth since the coronavirus epidemic. He replaced Jan Blatný (for YES) at the suggestion of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (YES).
Source: Seznam, TV List and CTK
