Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2013-08-22
The Chinese website of the American pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly. (Internet photo) |
Pharmaceutical
giant Eli Lilly, one of the world's biggest insulin producers, has been accused
of systematically bribing physicians and hospitals in Shanghai to promote the
sales of two of its insulin products, reports the Guangzhou-based 21st Century
Business Herald.
The news
has raised the number of foreign pharmaceutical giants accused of indulging in
corrupt practices to promote sales in China to four, with the others being
Britain's GlaxoSmithKline, France's Sanofi-Aventis and the Swiss firm Novartis.
According
to Lilly's 2012 budget plan, the company had allocated 9.5 million yuan (US$1.5
million) to promote two of its insulin lispro injections, marketed under the
name Humalog.
The fund
was used specifically to sponsor sales-oriented international, national and
district-level medical conferences. About 2.5 million yuan (US$408,000) from
the fund was used to target the pharmaceutical market in Shanghai.
Wang Wei, a
former executive at Lilly, told the daily that another fund used to bribe
physicians in Shanghai for recommending Humalog to patients was estimated to be
about 30 million yuan (US$5 million).
The
practice was common in the company, and mirrored practices carried out by
competing firm GlaxoSmithKline, he added. Lilly said in a statement that the
company will look into the matter, adding that the accusations were not in
keeping with its company policy or the way it trained its employees.
Wang told
the daily that Lilly's major competitor in China was Denmark's Novo Nordisk,
the world's biggest insulin producer. Lilly's sales lagged behind Novo
Nordisk's in China, Wang pointed out, therefore executives at Eli often
encouraged sales representatives to bribe physicians to promote the company's
medications.
For each new patient using Lilly's insulin products, a physician received a 200 yuan (US$33) bribe in Shanghai, while areas in which the company was fiercely competing with Novo Nordisk doctors were paid as much as 300 yuan (US$49) as a kickback.
For each new patient using Lilly's insulin products, a physician received a 200 yuan (US$33) bribe in Shanghai, while areas in which the company was fiercely competing with Novo Nordisk doctors were paid as much as 300 yuan (US$49) as a kickback.
No comments:
Post a Comment