Ethics commission will assess whether there is conflict because Anvisa director’s brother represents pharmaceutical companies

The CEP (Public Ethics Commission) of the Presidency of the Republic was called upon to assess whether there is a conflict of interest in the work of Daniel Meirelles, director of Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency). Thiago Meirelles, his brother, recently assumed the presidency of ProGenéricos, an entity that represents drug manufacturers.

ProGenéricos defends the interests of companies within Anvisa. The questions were asked by the director himself to the commission in early January. The agency’s president, Antonio Barra Torres, claims that he will also go to the Presidency body to check for irregularities.

Members of the agency’s leadership met this week and prepared a series of questions to send to the body linked to the Presidency about conflicts that may involve the relationship between Daniel and Thiago. Members of Anvisa say that there is dissatisfaction within the agency, as kinship may raise questions about interference by the private sector.

Daniel’s colleagues still assess that he may be forced to refrain from drug-related processes, which occupy most of the agency’s workforce, and overwhelm colleagues.

The director of Anvisa says that there is no illegality and that it will adopt necessary measures to avoid any conflict of interest. He also said that he decided to withdraw “in a preventive way” from some debates, while there is no response from the ethics committee.

The commission is due to meet for the first time in 2023 on January 31. The agenda for the meeting has not yet been released.

“Federal legislation, Law No. 12,813, of May 16, 2013, establishes regulations for cases of conflicts of interest. before Anvisa”, declared the director in a note.

President of Anvisa, Barra Torres said that he should submit by this Friday (27) new questions to the ethics commission about situations that may constitute a conflict of interest because of kinship.

“Certainly this document will be signed by all five directors”, said Barra Torres.

The Meirelles brothers held prominent positions in the Bolsonaro government.

Daniel was executive secretary of the Ministry of Health before joining Anvisa in August 2022. His brother held the same position in the Civil House during the management of General Braga Netto, then became deputy head of Articulation and Monitoring of the ministry.

Thiago Meirelles took over ProGenéricos in January. When communicating the new command, the entity also announced that it will transfer the headquarters from São Paulo to Brasília.

The idea is to get closer to the federal government in discussions about access to medicines and the duration of pharmaceutical patents, guidelines defended by the sector, as shown in the column Panel SA

PróGenéricos claims that it brings together 16 pharmaceutical companies with 90% of sales in the generics segment and 50% of the biosimilars market in Brazil.

In 2020, when he was deputy director at ANS (National Supplementary Health Agency), Daniel participated in the hiring process for the agency of a daughter of Braga Netto. His brother, Thiago, worked with the general, which raised questions about cross-nepotism.

After negative repercussions, the hiring process for Braga Netto’s daughter was interrupted. Wanted, Daniel did not comment on the episode.

At Anvisa, Daniel Meirelles occupies the 5th Directorate, responsible for controlling ports, airports and borders, in addition to pharmacovigilance —an area sensitive to the pharmaceutical market for monitoring adverse effects or other problems of drugs that are on the market.

Sought, ProGenéricos said that the ethics committee stated, in November 2022, that there was no conflict of interest for acting outside the government. The entity did not say whether Thiago told the commission, when presenting the consultation on the conflict, that he would work in the pharmaceutical market and that his brother is director of Anvisa.

“ProGenéricos has more than 20 years of relationship with public entities, always guided by ethics and transparency. The entity reinforces its total adherence and respect for federal legislation, Law nº 12.813/13, which establishes clear rules of conduct in cases of conflicts of interest “, said ProGenéricos.

Anvisa was targeted by the Bolsonaro government for defending vaccination against Covid, while the former president acted as a vector of misinformation about the pandemic.

After the agency approved the use of Pfizer doses against Covid for the 5-to-11-year-old group, at the end of 2021, Bolsonaro promised to expose the names of the agency’s servers and said the decision was “unbelievable”.

Bolsonaro’s adviser and ally at the beginning of the pandemic, Barra Torres became a critic of the former president’s role in the health crisis. He said at the time that the president’s speeches encouraged threats made against the agency.