GSK
acknowledged the Polish allegations dating from 2010 after an investigation by
the BBC's Panorama programme
The Guardian, Rupert Neate, Monday 14 April 2014
Shares in GlaxoSmithKline fell 1% to £15.43 after the Europe's largest pharmaceutical company acknowledged the Polish allegations. Photograph Warren Little/Getty Images |
GlaxoSmithKline,
the British drug company embroiled in bribery scandals in China and Iraq, has
been accused of bribing doctors in Poland in the latest corruption furore to
hit the business.
The
company, which has made a series of public promises to "root out
corruption wherever it exists" following allegations that it bribed doctors with £320m worth of cash and sexual favours in China, admitted on
Monday in relation to the latest accusations.
GSK, which
has repeatedly trumpeted its "zero tolerance" corruption policy as it
battles to salvage its corporate reputation, only acknowledged the Polish
allegations – which date back to 2010-12 – after an investigation by the BBC's
Panorama programme.
Poland's
fraud squad, the central anti-corruption bureau, on Monday said 13 people had
been charged in connection with allegations of doctors being bribed to promote
GSK's asthma drug Seretide.
The UK's
Serious Fraud Office is also understood to be looking at the claims. "We
are aware of the case," a SFO source said. The SFO refused to confirm or
deny that it was investigating the matter.
The
allegations, if proved, would breach the UK's Bribery Act and the US Foreign
Corrupt Practices Act and could result in GSK being ordered to pay large fines.
Analysts at
Panmure Gordon said: "In isolation, the events in Poland are trivial but
evidence is building up of sharp practices in many areas of GSK's organisation
which will impact sentiment significantly." GSK's shares dropped 1% to
£15.43.
GSK
admitted on Monday that it had brought in private detectives to investigate the
Polish claims in 2011 and "found evidence of inappropriate communication
in contravention of GSK policy by a single employee. The employee concerned was
reprimanded and disciplined in 2011."
The company
said it was continuing to investigate the claims and was "co-operating
fully with the CBA". However, GSK failed to inform the public or its
shareholders of the Polish investigation until Monday [today] despite chief
executive Sir Andrew Witty promising to reform the organisation in the wake of
the "shameful" and "deeply disappointing" allegations in
China.
GSK only
revealed details of the allegations following the Panorama investigation,
broadcast on BBC1on Monday.
In the
Panorama programme Jarek Wisniewski, a former GSK sales representative in the
Polish region of Lodz, said GSK staff paid doctors to give speeches which did
not take place. "We pay agreement for a speech, we pay £100 but we expect
more than 100 prescriptions for this drug."
Wisniewski
said his regional manager told them to do it, and that he blew the whistle to
GSK. He said this resulted in his being sidelined at work and eventually
sacked.
The public
prosecutor for Lodz said: "We have evidence to claim in more than a dozen
cases it was a camouflaged form of a bribe. In return for the financial gains
the doctors would favour the product proposed by the pharmaceutical company and
they prescribed that medicine."
GSK refused
to explain why it did not publicly disclose the allegations before being
questioned by Panorama. "We disclose significant cases in our annual
report where they have the potential to have a material impact on the
company," a spokesman said. The report lists a total of 161 staff
violations of sales and marketing practices, resulting in 48 people being
sacked or leaving the company and 113 formal warnings. In total, 375 employees
were sacked or left voluntarily as a result of misconduct.
In
December, Witty promised that GSK would stop making any payments to doctors.
"We recognise that we have an important role to play in providing doctors
with information about our medicines, but this must be done clearly,
transparently and without any perception of conflict of interest," he
said.
In 2012,
GSK paid a record $3bn (£1.9bn) in fines to settle claims that bribed US
doctors into prescribing antidepressants for non-approved uses.
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