UK-based drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK,GSK.L) is facing a criminal probe in Poland for allegedly paying bribes to doctors to promote its asthma drug Seretide, BBC Panorama reported on Sunday.
According to the report, eleven doctors and one of Glaxo's regional managers have been charged over alleged corruption between 2010 and 2012. The doctors were reportedly bribed to promote Seretide.
The BBC reported that the public prosecutor in the Polish region of Lodz has found evidence in documents given by GSK to doctors that support claims of corrupt payments in more than a dozen different health centers where there was no evidence to show that "patient education" had taken place. One of the doctors is said to have already admitted guilt, been fined and given a suspended sentence.
Glaxo has reportedly said that one of its employees has been disciplined and it was co-operating with the investigations. If the allegations are proved, Glaxo may have violated the UK Bribery Act and the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Glaxo is already said to be facing corruption accusations in China and Iraq.
Glaxo reportedly hired 16 government-employed physicians and pharmacists in Iraq as paid sales representatives for the company while they continued to work for the government. A government-employed Iraqi emergency-room physician prescribed Glaxo products even when they were not available in the hospital's pharmacy and only a competitor's brand was in stock.
Chinese officials said last summer that some Glaxo employees conducted fake conferences and used the money for expenses as bribes for doctors, hospital administrators and government officials to promote more drug prescriptions. In response, Glaxo said that some senior executives may have violated Chinese laws. The company is cooperating with Chinese authorities in the probe.
GSK closed Friday's trading on the NYSE at $51.76, down $0.79 or 1.50 percent on a volume of 3.28 million shares.
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