Dive Brief:
- It's been almost six months since GlaxoSmithline (GSK) was fined $489 million in China after employees were accused of bribing doctors to prescribe GSK drugs—but the scandal is not going away. Glaxo is firing 110 workers in China for misconduct that happened more than 18 months ago, the WSJ reports.
- GSK has also faced accusations of unethical and illegal behavior in the U.S., Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Poland in the past.
- In September 2014, a Chinese court of found GSK employees guilty of bribing doctors, hospitals and other non-governmental personnel. The case was deliberated for just one day before the verdict was delivered.
Dive Insight:
"Based on the findings, we have taken disciplinary action against employees whose conduct went against GSK’s values and code of conduct. We have zero tolerance for this kind of behavior," wrote a GSK spokesperson to WSJ's Pharmalot.
While the scandal in China has generated many headlines, GSK also had a high-profile scandal in the U.S. three years ago, when the company was accused of failing to disclose clinical trial results, improperly marketing drugs, and other breaches of regulations.
Even CEO Andrew Witty is suffering the consequences of these scandals, recently taking a 46% pay-cut.