Novo, the Danish pharmaceutical powerhouse, finds itself in a bit of communicative trouble.
Earlier this year, hacker group FulcrumSec claimed to have gained access to Novo’s internal data. The Danish niche media site Ingeniøren has now been in contact with the hackers.
According to documents leaked to Ingeniøren, which Novo has not verified, Novo held rankings of more than 7,000 (7,389) doctors and nurses based on their commercial value and loyalty to Novo products.
Hacking in June
FulcrumSec is a cyber extortion group. In June, they claimed to have had access to Novo’s systems for months.
They later attempted to blackmail the company for 25 million US dollars; however, Novo has rejected their requests.
The hackers also claim to have gained access to the recipe for Novo’s not-yet-released weight-loss medicine amycretin.
7,000 nurses and doctors
On Thursday, after having been in contact with the hackers, Ingeniøren published an article on some of the material the hackers were in possession of.
This was a list ranking more than 7,000 doctors and nurses by how likely they are to prescribe Novo products. According to the leaked material, over 2,600 had been given the highest score the company gives out.
Ingeniøren also reported that the leaked material shows Novo holds information on 46,843 healthcare professionals.
“Unpleasant to be ranked”
In Denmark, as in many other countries, it is common practice for healthcare professionals to meet with salespeople from the pharmaceutical sphere.
DR spoke to Karsten Juhl Jørgensen, a professor of conflicts of interest at the University of Southern Denmark, about the case.
He told the media, “It is perhaps new that this is coming to light in a Danish context, but these kinds of lists and surveillance of doctors and other healthcare personnel is something that has emerged in court cases in the US for many years.”
Maria Krüger, chair of the Danish College of General Practitioners, who appeared on the list, told Ingeniøren, “As a doctor, it is unpleasant to be ranked according to my commercial value to Novo.
“I think it is problematic that the list exists, because it can damage my medical professionalism and integrity.”
“Common industry practice”
In response to the report, Novo said in a statement, “We understand that the material allegedly stems from criminal activity in connection with unlawful intrusion into certain of Novo’s systems. We are therefore not verifying whether the material has been fabricated or altered.”
It added, “In general, it is common industry practice in the pharmaceutical industry to use databases of healthcare professionals.
“These record information such as specialty and areas of professional interest in order to improve the professional dialogue and make contact relevant for the individual healthcare professional.”
