China said on Monday it had detained four senior GlaxoSmithKline
executives on suspicion of economic crimes involving Rmb3bn in deals
dating back as far as 2007. It is the latest in a string of alleged
wrongdoings for the UK pharmaceutical group in the country. GSK,
which has repeatedly said it has found no evidence of bribery or
corruption in China, says it is reviewing the latest comments from the
Ministry of Public Security and will respond shortly.
The following is a list of the events that led to the arrest of the four employees:
June 28 Police in the central Chinese city of
Changsha announce it has placed GSK company officials under
investigation for alleged “economic crimes”.
GSK said it was aware of the Changsha probe, but there had
been no charges or arrests and it had no other details. It said: “We can
confirm that there is an investigation under way. It’s still unclear
what it is focused on. We will of course co-operate with the inquiry.”
July 4 China’s National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s drug pricing authority, says it has launched a wide-ranging probe into the costs of medicines at 60 domestic and international drugmakers, including GSK.
July 7 The Wall Street Journal,
citing an internal email dated May 13, reports that a whistleblower
notified GSK’s board of directors and compliance officers of allegations
that its China sales staff bribed doctors to prescribe Botox over the
past year.
GSK says it is investigating these new claims, but adds that
its inquiries to date have found “no evidence of bribery or corruption
in relation to our sales and marketing of therapeutic Botox in China”.
July 11 China’s Public Security
Bureau issued a statement accusing GSK of bribing doctors to prescribe
their drugs and concocting a “huge scheme” to raise drug prices. Chinese
officials say executives from GSK admitted to using bribes, kickbacks
and other fraudulent measures to boost sales in China.
GSK says the Chinese announcement represented the first
details of the case the company had been informed about and that it will
co-operate with the investigation.
July 13 GSK puts on hold
tests on human volunteers of an experimental compound for multiple
sclerosis, after claims of fraud in a scientific paper that led it to
fire Jingwu Zhang, the head of its neuro-immunology centre in Shanghai.
GSK says it has accepted the resignation of a second researcher and put
three more on administrative leave.
July 15 Police in China say GSK
made “illegal” transfers, as they released details of an investigation
into bribery allegations. Gao Feng, head of the economic crimes
investigation unit, says four senior Chinese executives from GSK have
been held.