GlaxoSmithKline allegedly bribing Polish doctors

Prosecutors and the Polish Anti-Corruption Bureau are investigating reports that UK-based pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline allegedly bribed doctors in Poland to prescribe their drugs ahead of other manufacturers.“We believe that doctors took a form of bribes from representatives of the company in the years 2010-11,” Krzysztof Kopania, a spokesman for the regional prosecutor’s office in Lodz, central Poland, told the Gazeta Wyborcza daily. The report comes the day after a court in the US has sentenced GlaxoSmithKline to a 3 billion USD penalty after the company pleaded guilty to promoting antidepressants Paxil and Wellbutrin for unapproved uses.  Gazeta Wyborcza writes that it has seen a copy of an agreement prepared by GlaxoSmithKline, where doctors pledge to promote drugs by the company to patients and other doctors, after which they would receive payments. More…

News selected by Covalence | Country: Poland | Company: GlaxoSmithKline  | Source: Polskie Radio