Following yesterdays news, that Glaxo had entered into an agreement with the Oregon Department of Justice, comes news of further settlement agreements being reached in the US.
It's now being reported that GSK will pay $105 million to settle claims with California, New York and more than 40 other states that it illegally promoted asthma and antidepressant drugs.
The deal isn't just a monetary one...Glaxo, however, would like the general public to think that it is.
Part of the deal is that Glaxo have to stop using paid doctors to promote its products. Glaxo, after being fined a record breaking $3 billion in 2012 for similar offences, have claimed to be doing this off their own bat...when in fact their hand has been forced by these settlement agreements.
The State of California are to receive $7.1 million, the highest payment to any of the other states mentioned in the agreement. Texas stands to get $6.2 million under the deal, while Pennsylvania and New Jersey stand to receive $4.1 million and $2.45 million
Glaxo have also recently settled many Paxil birth defect cases, a figure that is estimated at $1 billion.
Glaxo have also recently been in the news for bribing doctors in China, Iraq, Poland, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan - back story.
On May 27th the British Serious Fraud Office (SFO) announced that GlaxoSmithKline were being investigated by officials in Britain. I have wrote to the SFO asking them to elaborate on the investigation and also asked them if they will be investigating any bribery or fraud committed in the UK by GlaxoSmithKline. The SFO have wrote back but have, as yet, not announced if they will be investigating bribery or fraud from any of GSK's UK practices.
So, Glaxo settling claims against them left, right and centre at the moment.
They refuse, however, to settle claims brought against them by members of the British public regarding Seroxat [Paxil] and its propensity to cause withdrawal problems. A lawsuit, filed over 10 years ago, sees Glaxo refuse to compensate a number of British consumers who became addicted to Seroxat. Glaxo have refused to enter into any type of settlement agreement and have denied all allegations that Seroxat is addictive. This, despite settling with over 3,000 consumers who made claims against them in the US a number of years ago.
It seems that GlaxoSmithKline, a British company, can pay the consequences of their illegal activities in foreign countries but refuse to do so when they do the same on their own soil.
Don't you just love the British Justice system!
Bob Fiddaman.
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