The British drug giant is looking into claims the company hired government-employed doctors and pharmacists in Iraq as paid sales representatives, to boost sales of its products. It is understood GSK launched the inquiry as soon as it was made aware of the allegations a number of weeks ago.
Glaxo received the allegations from a whistleblower who was familiar with GSK's Middle East operation, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing emails from this person.
The whistleblower accused Glaxo of hiring 16 government-employed doctors and pharmacists as sales representatives for the company. The person also claimed the practices make GSK vulnerable to prosecution under the UK Bribery Act and the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
GSK is also facing allegations that sales staff in China paid as much as £320m in bribes to win market share.
The company has admitted that its own investigation into the allegations unearthed evidence of wrongdoing by a handful of sales staff, but maintains they worked outside GSK’s control systems. It has called the allegations “shameful" and said it is cooperating with the ongoing Chinese investigation.
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