Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning , Fraud Management & Cybercrime , Fraud Risk Management

Fraud Detection: Lessons From Novartis Case

Incidents of fraud at pharmaceutical giant Novartis that resulted in over $1 billion in fines worldwide might have been avoided if the company’s compliance team used data analytics to detect patterns, says Thomas Fox, a compliance evangelist and author.

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The Novartis case involved illegal payments and perks provided to physicians in exchange for prescribing certain drugs.

Too often, corporations’ compliance teams lack access to the data that’s necessary to do their jobs, Fox says in a video interview with Information Security Media Group. Pharmaceutical companies, for example, track doctors that prescribe their drugs. “The data is there. But the compliance function simply does not have access to that data,” Fox says.

In this video interview, Fox also discusses:

• Novartis’ fraudulent practices and how the entire episode played out in multiple countries;
• Important lessons for compliance officers from this fraud case;
• Why compliance teams usually are not able to leverage data analytics;

Fox is a compliance evangelist who is author of “The Compliance Handbook” published in May. He has written 16 books on business leadership, compliance, ethics and corporate governance, including “Lessons Learned on Compliance and Ethics.” He also hosts The Compliance Podcast Network.