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Pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline fined $490 million in bribery case

Brentford-based pharmaceuticals firm GlaxoSmithKline has been found guilty of bribery and fined $490 million (£297 million) in court.

The record penalty follows allegations that GSK paid out bribes to doctors and hospitalsin China, in exchange for the promotion of its products.

The drug giant’s former head of Chinese operations, Mark Reilly, has been given a three-year prison sentence, which has been suspended for four years. Several other GSK executives have also been given suspended jail sentences.

The guilty verdict was delivered after a one-day trial at a court in Changsha, according to the Xinhua news agency.

Chinese authorities first announced they were investigating GSK in July last year, in what has become the biggest corruption scandal to hit a foreign firm in years.

GSK Chief Executive Officer, Sir Andrew Witty said: “Reaching a conclusion in the investigation of our Chinese business is important, but this has been a deeply disappointing matter for GSK.

We have and will continue to learn from this. GSK has been in China for close to a hundred years and we remain fully committed to the country and its people.

We will continue to expand access to innovative medicines and vaccines to improve their health and well-being.

We will also continue to invest directly in the country to support the government’s health care reform agenda and long-term plans for economic growth.“

“We will also continue to invest directly in the country to support the government’s health care reform agenda and long-term plans for economic growth.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .