A GSK office in China. (Photo/CFP) |
The Chinese
operations of Sanofi and Eli Lilly, which both rank among the world's top 10
pharmaceutical firms, have been placed under investigation for irregularities
by authorities in the country, joining the long list of investigative targets
which has included such global heavyweights as AstraZeneca, Roche, Pfizer and
Bayer.
While
admitting that they are under investigation, both Sanofi and Eli Lilly said
however that the recent raids on their offices were regular inspections,
according to Guangzhou's 21s Century Business Herald. "Shenyang city
officials did visit our office in Shenyang on July 29. Although we are not sure
of their purpose, we assure that Sonafi China, like the company's operations in
other nations, follows the highest ethical standards and strictly abides by
local laws and regulations," the company said. Eli Lilly has also issued a
similar statement.
The
progress of the investigation into bribery and backhanders in China's
pharmaceutical industry has been rather slow due to the involvement of many
enterprises. An executive from a major foreign pharmaceutical firm says that in
order to avoid greater trouble, many foreign pharmaceutical firms would choose
to accept fines rather than object to the probe.
An insider
notes that in response to the instruction of superiors or on their own
initiative, government industrial and commercial agencies from time to time
raid consumer product enterprises or pharmaceutical firms, probing traces of
irregularities in company documents, business accounts, computer files and even
trash bins.
The current
wave of investigations comes in the wake of the GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) scandal,
where sales representatives from the company were heavily fined for offering
bribes and other incentives to doctors to buy their drugs. A Pfizer sales
representative was recently taken away for investigation but this was only an
isolated case involving a doctor-patient dispute and had nothing to do with
bribery, according to Pfizer.
"Recently,
doctors are advised to avoid attending events sponsored by pharmaceutical firms
and medicine sales reps are subject to various restrictions when visiting
doctors or hospital officials in order to maintain a low profile during the
turbulence," reports Chen Wei, an industry insider.
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Beijing expands GSK bribery probe to other multinationals
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