LONDON: GlaxoSmithKline faces new allegations that it bribed Syrian doctors and officials to boost sales of its medicines, following recent accusations of corruption in its non-prescription business in the country. The latest charges are laid out in an anonymous email sent to the company’s top managers last week.
GSK — one of the few big firms still supplying drugs in Syria —said yesterday it would investigate the new claims involving its own staff and local distributors.
The company added it had suspended relations with its Syrian distributors pending results of the probe. The attack on the drugmaker’s ethical standards follows a series of similar bribery claims against the company in China, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Poland.
Allegations of corruption in GSK’s Syrian consumer business were reported last month, which sells products including toothpaste and painkillers. The consumer operation was closed in 2012 due to the worsening civil war in the country.
The Syrian prescription pharmaceuticals business remains operational, however, and GSK said it was committed to supplying safe and effective drugs and vaccines to patients in need.
The new corruption claims involve alleged bribes paid to boost sales of various medicines, including ones to treat cancer and to prevent blood clots.
“All the claims in this email will be thoroughly investigated using internal and external resources as part of our ongoing investigation into operations in Syria,” said a spokesman for Britain’s biggest drugmaker.
“We are committed to taking any disciplinary actions resulting from the findings. We have suspended our relationship with our distributors in the country pending the outcome of our investigation.”
The claims of corruption in the country involve relatively small sums of money, running into thousands of dollars rather than the hundreds of millions that GSK is alleged to have funneled to doctors and officials in China.
GSK’s business in Syria is small, with sales of less than £6m a year, against a group turnover of £26.5bn in 2013.
Nonetheless, the persistent nature of the allegations are damaging to the company’s reputation and also leave it open to legal action and potential fines in Britain, where it is based, and in the United States, where it has a stock market listing.
The August 6 email from a person familiar with GSK’s Syrian operations said the alleged bribes in its pharmaceuticals business took the form of cash, trips and free medical samples.
“GSK has been engaging in multiple corrupt and illegal practices in conducting its pharmaceutical business in Syria,” according to the lengthy email addressed to Chief Executive Andrew Witty and Judy Lewent, chair of GSK’s audit committee.
Reuters
