BioCentury
ARTICLE | Company News

GlaxoSmithKline other news

September 16, 2013 7:00 AM UTC

A BBC story said GlaxoSmithKline could face "enormous" fines in the U.S. and U.K. if it were to plead guilty as a company to bribery and might have to consider withdrawing from the Chinese market. The story followed a report from Chinese state news agency Xinhua alleging bribery was "organized by GSK China rather than drug salespeople's individual behavior." The pharma did not respond to requests for comment on the Xinhua article but a GSK representative, when asked whether the pharma is considering withdrawing from China, said the company "remain[s] absolutely committed to being in the market for the long-term."

In July, China's Ministry of Public Security arrested several GSK executives after finding evidence they had bribed government officials, foundations, hospitals and doctors. Since then, GSK has been the focus of an ongoing investigation of bribery and tax crimes in China, which the company maintains were the result of actions by senior managers in China who defrauded the company as well as the Chinese healthcare system (see BioCentury, July 15 & July 29). ...