皇冠体育app

Industry insiders say bribery and kickbacks for prescribing an 'open secret' in 皇冠体育app

The investigation by Chinese police into the British pharmactical giant GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK) has triggered concerns over corruption in the pharmaceutical industry across the country.

On June 28, police in Changsha, Hunan province, said on the micro-blogging service Sina Weibo that they were investigating senior management at GSK 皇冠体育app for suspected "economic crimes". Chinese also reported that an unknown number of the company's employees in three cities, including , Shanghai and Changsha, had been detained. The employees include at least one foreign executive.

GSK 皇冠体育app has confirmed that Chinese authorities had visited the company's offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Changsha.

"We can confirm we are aware of an ongoing investigation by Chinese government authorities," Fang Fang, a public relations spokeswoman from the corporate communications department at GSK 皇冠体育app, told 皇冠体育app Daily on Tuesday.

"At this stage it is still unclear what the precise nature of the investigation is. We will of course cooperate with the inquiry," she said.

Changsha police declined to release further information and didn't specify the exact nature of the allegations on its micro blog. The phrase "economic crimes" is frequently used by Chinese authorities to refer to corruption.

The investigation came soon after GSK announced its own investigation into alleged bribery of doctors in 皇冠体育app last month, which was prompted by an anonymous internal whistle-blower.

GSK sales staff had allegedly been offering cash payments, lavish dinners and all-expenses-paid trips to doctors in 皇冠体育app, hoping to boost their prescriptions of GSK-supplied drugs, according to The Wall Street Journal.

But the drugmaker later said it found no evidence of corruption or bribery in its business operation in 皇冠体育app.

"Over the last four months we have used significant resources to thoroughly investigate each and every claim from this single, anonymous source and have found no evidence of corruption or bribery in our 皇冠体育app business," the company said last month in a statement.

Also last month, GSK ran into problems with its research and development sector in 皇冠体育app. The company fired its 皇冠体育app head of R&D, Zang Jingwu, for misrepresenting data in a scientific paper in 2010 that was published in Nature Medicine.