Edward Marchesi Documents provided by an anonymous informant to US authorities have shown that four major Western pharmaceutical groups paid exceptionally large bonuses to Russian distributors, favoring the procurement of cancer drugs for state hospitals. The payments, described as exorbitant , ranged between 15% and 35% , well above the international average, which rarely exceeds 10%.
Exorbitant payments to Russian distributors
The most prominent case involves Merck , whose Russian counterpart R-Pharm has earned approximately $360 million in government contracts for the cancer drug Keytruda . Between 2020 and 2022, the company won 2.400 of nearly 5.000 tenders , with 96% of those awarded unopposed, cementing a near-monopoly for sanctioned oligarch Alexei Repik.
R-Pharm's defense
CEO Vasily Ignatyev denied all the accusations, saying the commercial rebates were legitimate and that the state tender procedures were transparent.
Another case concerns Eli Lilly , which in 2022 would have foreseen a 34% bonus for the sales of its advanced drug Cyramza.
The previous year, Moscow's health department had awarded more than $5 million in contracts to Pharmstandard , the sole bidder for most of the supplies.
As for AstraZeneca , its product Tagrisso was sold to government facilities at or above the official list price, by at least $3,000 per package , in 95% of tenders between 2020 and 2023, where participation was limited to a single bidder. The company used Pharmimex , the distributor that won $114,3 million out of nearly $ 129 million in contracts for the drug Koselugo from 2022 to 2024, without competition.
Finally, Novartis has been implicated in possible bid -rigging in government auctions of the drug Kisqali , through distributors such as Pharmimex and related companies. A spokesperson confirmed that the company has launched an internal investigation, without making the results public.
Investigations and company reactions
The information comes from a collaboration between the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the exiled Russian news site Proekt, and the Swiss magazine Republik. Although the documents do not include direct bank transfers, the whistleblowers allege that parent companies were willfully blind to the use of profit margins to pay bribes to health officials.
The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act holds parent companies liable if they ignore reports of corruption from third parties. However, both the SEC and the Department of Justice declined to comment on the reports submitted to ICIJ.
The four companies responded differently: AstraZeneca and Merck did not provide statements, Eli Lilly postponed its response, while Novartis indicated an ongoing internal investigation.
This case highlights how opaque public procurement systems can be exploited by large multinationals, with consequences for both patient health and fair competition in the pharmaceutical sector.