Was former President Benigno Aquino aware that French drug maker Sanofi was penalized in several countries over alleged bribery and false claims before he met with the firm about its dengue vaccine?

This was the question that Senator Richard Gordon posed to the former leader Thursday during a legislative investigation into Sanofi's vaccine Dengvaxia, which the Aquino administration used in a public immunization program that is now in tatters.

The senator told Aquino that Sanofi was investigated by China in 2013 for allegedly bribing 500 doctors to raise sales; fined $109 million for violating a US anti-kickback statute in 2009; and fined $52.7 million in 2013 for disparaging its generic competition in France.

The firm, he added, also faced bribery allegations in Eastern Africa, Middle East, Germany, and Kenya.

Under Gordon's questioning, Aquino said thrice that he was not informed of the incidents before he discussed the Dengvaxia deal in 2 meetings Sanofi officials in 2015.

"I just want to point out, sir, without casting aspersion to your character, that when you meet with drug companies like this... I would imagine that, through no fault of your own, you were not briefed in your first meeting," the lawmaker then told the former president.

"The government or [former health secretary Janette] Garin ought to have been more careful and circumspect in dealing with Sanofi considering that they are very, very high pressure salesmen," he added.

Sanofi last month disclosed that Dengvaxia may worsen dengue if administered to those who have not had the mosquito-borne illness. This prompted the Philippines to suspend its dengue vaccination program that has inoculated some 830,000 public school students.

DZMM, 14 December 2017