Definition of ADMIRATION [merriam-webster.com]
1 archaic : wonder
2 an object of esteem
3 delighted or astonished approbation
Despite Glaxo's recent plea of guilty to fraud and subsequent $3 billion fine in the US, Britain sees Glaxo as a totally different corporation.
Glaxo have been shortlisted for one of Britain's Most Admired Companies awards by Management Today, in association with the Business Standards Institution [BSI]
The awards, write Management Today, are a peer review of corporate reputation. Canvassing the opinions of 200 of the UK’s largest companies, they are the only awards of their type in the UK.
Glaxo are no strangers to receiving awards from Management Today. After being shortlisted for Britain's Most Admired Companies in the year 2000, they actually went on to win it!
Management Today claims that it aims to help managers and business leaders "succeed today, and keep succeeding tomorrow". BSI, who are also associated with the awards, claim that "for more than a century, we've been challenging mediocrity and complacency to help our clients across the world embed excellence into the way they work…so they perform better, reduce risk and achieve sustainable growth.
On hearing the news of Glaxo's nomination I wrote to the editor of the Management Today website.
Dear Sir/Madam,
I thought I was seeing things when I read that you had listed GlaxoSmithKline as one of Britain's Most Admired Companies.
What a kick in the teeth for those suffering severe withdrawal effects from Glaxo's drug, Seroxat. What a knife in the gut for those who have lost loved ones through death as a result of Seroxat induced suicide.
It's also a huge smack in the face for parents whose children were born with serious heart defects because the mother had taken Seroxat during her pregnancy.
Let's not forget Avandia, their drug for diabetes, which the American Medicine's Drug Regulator [FDA] estimate has caused as many as 100,000 heart attacks, strokes, deaths and cases of heart failure.
It's amazing. Here we have a British company who recently pleaded guilty to a whole range of violations, including promoting the use of their drugs for use in children when the drugs were not meant for children. Promoting asthma drugs for general asthma sufferers when it was only meant for severe asthma sufferers, promoting drugs to help people lose weight when in actual fact they had never been proven to help people lose weight v- not to mention the millions of dollars spent on kickbacks for doctors [bribes] to get them to prescribe the above to patients.
Their plea of guilty saw them pay a record paying $3 billion to the US government.
Here's a brief history of one of "Britain's most admired companies"
SmithKline Beecham in Settlement With U.S. - Published: September 7, 1996
In the latest big settlement by a clinical laboratory company of Federal Medicare fraud charges, SmithKline Beecham P.L.C. expects to pay the Government about $300 million this year, without admitting any wrongdoing. Analysts said the Laboratory Corporation of America also expects to settle similar charges by the end of the year.
Jury Awards $6.4 Million In Killings Tied to Drug - Published: June 8, 2001
A Wyoming jury has awarded $6.4 million to the family of a man who killed three relatives and himself after taking the antidepressant Paxil. Charles F. Preuss, a lawyer for the manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline said the verdict on Wednesday was a surprise.
Spitzer Sues a Drug Maker, Saying It Hid Negative Data - Published: June 3, 2004
In a novel claim testing the way that the $400 billion worldwide pharmaceutical industry is regulated, the New York State attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, sued the British-based drug giant GlaxoSmithKline yesterday, accusing the company of fraud in concealing negative information about its popular antidepressant medicine Paxil.
Glaxo Settles U.S. Fraud Charges - Published: September 20, 2005 ABC News
GlaxoSmithKline PLC will pay $150 million to settle claims it overcharged the government for two anti-nausea drugs, and prosecutors say they're looking into 150 cases of drug price fraud.
Schoolgirls bust Glaxo for lying about Ribena vitamin C - Published: March 27, 2007
Two fourteen-year-old students busted Glaxo for lying about the Vitamin C content of the Ribena drink.
Glaxo Agrees to Pay $3 Billion in Fraud Settlement
In the largest settlement involving a pharmaceutical company, the British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges and pay $3 billion in fines for promoting its best-selling antidepressants for unapproved uses and failing to report safety data about a top diabetes drug.
One of Britain's most admired companies? By whose standards exactly?
Management Today's ignorance and lack of empathy is staggering if they truly believe that a drug company who have pleaded guilty to fraud should be shortlisted for an award.
Utterly repelled by the very idea!
Yours sincerely,
--
Bob Fiddaman
I envisage future nominees
Volkswagen shortlisting Ted Bundy for an award for highlighting the way VW Beetles can be parked.
The General Medical Council shortlisting Harold Shipman for an award for services to the over 60's.
Peter Sutcliffe being shortlisted for a consultancy role in the making of Pretty Woman 2.
Beverley Allitt being shortlisted for a Babysitter of the Year Award
What a topsy-turvy world we live in.
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