BBC News, Martin Patience, Beijing, 12 August 2013
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Stories
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| GSK has been accused of facilitating bribes to doctors and officials in China |
Bribes are
routinely paid by major foreign pharmaceutical firms operating in China, the
BBC has learned.
Five drugs
salesmen for foreign companies told the BBC their firms paid bribes in order to
increase sales of their products.
None of
them wanted to be identified, fearing they would lose their jobs.
The
revelations come as Beijing widens its investigation into drugs-price fixing
amid a bribery scandal engulfing drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline.
'Inflated
prices'
One of the
salesmen said his company paid about $1,000 (£647) to get its product back on
the shelves at one hospital.
"I
don't deny [giving money to doctors] happens in foreign companies," the
sales representative said. "It is rare though and only very few people get
it," he added.
But he
described an incident where a product had been cleared from a hospital's shelves,
which proved to be "an embarrassment" for him and his company.
"If we
follow the normal procedure to recover it, it is very complicated. It will cost
a lot of money and energy. We looked for a quick way."
He admitted
that strictly speaking, the money paid out to ensure the product returned to
shelves was probably a bribe and that his manager signed it off. He said it
would have cost a lot more to achieve the same result through official routes.
"It
may cost us more if we have not paid the bribe. It will be a lot of money and
energy," he said.
Such
revelations follow last month's allegations by the Chinese police that the
British drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline had engaged in "mafia-style
behaviour". GSK was accused of directing up to £320m through travel
agencies to facilitate bribes to doctors and officials.
A detained
Chinese executive from the firm told state television that bribes paid by his
company had inflated prices of its products by a third.
GSK has
said that it is co-operating with the Chinese investigation.
China's
health care spending is expected to more than double by the end of this decade.
By
investigating possible drugs price fixing the authorities are hoping to tackle
the rising costs.
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Beijing expands GSK bribery probe to other multinationals
"THE BRIDGE OF SWORDS"– Sep 29, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)
"THE BRIDGE OF SWORDS"– Sep 29, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)
“… I'm in Canada and I know it, but I will tell those listening and reading in the American audience the following: Get ready! Because there are some institutions that are yet to fall, ones that don't have integrity and that could never be helped with a bail out. Again, we tell you the biggest one is big pharma, and we told you that before. It's inevitable. If not now, then in a decade. It's inevitable and they will fight to stay alive and they will not be crossing the bridge. For on the other side of the bridge is a new way, not just for medicine but for care. Paradigms that have not yet been thought of, which don't represent any system that currently exists, will be created and developed by young minds who have concepts that the seniors don't know about. Things that don't have integrity today will fall over tomorrow. Just get ready. It's all part of what's on the other side of the bridge. And the old energy won't like it, and they will object. …”
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