PQE Group Creates an Internal Research Task Force to Fight Fake News in Relation to COVID-19

July 13,2020

With the pandemic caused by COVID-19, the continuous need to obtain information has pushed people to rely on unreliable sources, thus fomenting the spread of fake news.

For this reason Gilda D'Incerti, CEO and founder of PQE Group, quality service provider for Life Sciences, decided last month to create a task force of employees to perform research on one of the most discussed side effects of COVID-19: the Infodemic.

During one of the monthly video messages to the staff that D'Incerti sent during the lockdown to the over 700 resources divided into the various subsidiaries of the group, she asked to send personal applications to create a team of researchers. The aim was to investigate, in a methodical and systematic way, the most salient aspects of five main areas of information - such as science, ecology, big data, social economy and legal - which in the last months since the start of the pandemic have largely contributed to shape the public debate.

The team, consisting of 24 expert consultants from PQE Group, graduated in various disciplines ranging from Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology to Social and Economic Sciences, is working to provide information as much as possible via the corporate communication channels scientifically correct and updated on these topics, reporting the results obtained in a clear and simple manner.

In order to guarantee data security, two internationally renowned pharmaceutical auditors have been selected to support the team: Claudio Puglisi, Vice President of PQE Group and Executive Committee for external relations of the Parental Drug Association (PDA), and Paolo Baroldi, who before becoming a consultant for PQE Group in the US served as Vice President of Development and R&D Chairman at Chiesi Farmaceutici SPA.

One of the main benefit of this research is also the cultural diversity of the task force, as the people chosen for this project are from the main countries affected by COVID-19 such as Italy, Spain, Japan, India, USA, Mexico and Brazil. In this way, in addition to deepening different points of view, the various teams will have access to cross-cutting information, capable of making the news more reliable.