Dr. Byram W. Bridle, 02/10/26
When I read the article, I found two details in the story to be particularly disconcerting.
First, I learned a new term. Apparently there are “potentially influential government officials (PIGOs)” that pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer target monetarily. This term bothers me and the purpose of the payouts seems to be at odds with conflict of interest policies that are supposed to be enforced in countries like Canada.
Second, alongside China, Pfizer targeted Canada’s PIGOs through a disproportionately large budget. The story focused on the fact that Pfizer may have committed fraud by targeting potentially influential government officials in China with a disproportionately large sum of money (“over ten times the amount of money”) compared to what was paid out to government officials in the United States. However, as a Canadian, I found the following facts to be of concern: