Glaxo - Enter the Spin Doctors.

Spin Doctor -  a public relations person who tries to forestall negative publicity by publicizing a favorable interpretation of the words or actions of a company.

GlaxoSmithKline, the British pharmaceutical company who have promised that they won't be bribing doctors or key opinion leaders anymore, have come up with a wonderful alternative that has 'SPIN' written all over it.

The smokescreen it will be operating under is called "Patient First", another piece of carefully crafted spin. "Patient First" was a scheme put into place as part of Glaxo's Corporate Integrity Agreement which saw them fined a staggering $3billion by the Department of Justice for misdemeanours involving, bribery, kickbacks and off-label promotion of dangerous drugs to children. [Back story]

Fed up of being the bad guys Glaxo have promised to do away with top University boffs to promote their drugs, opting instead for in-house doctors on their payroll. Hey, nobody can accuse them of bribery if they are paying an annual salary to someone employed by them, right?

Forget the potential conflict of interest that looms just press ahead and hire specialist doctors...give them a wage, give them a list of what they can or can't say and voila... we have a KOL by proxy.

Genius spin once again from GlaxoSmithKline.

Bloomberg write:

Glaxo has been reforming marketing practices to improve its reputation. In 2012, the company agreed to pay $3 billion to settle allegations that it illegally promoted its Paxil and Wellbutrin anti-depressants and failed to report safety data on the Avandia diabetes drug. Hiring doctors and medical experts to speak as in-house representatives of Glaxo will provide more transparency, Connelly said.

Glaxo's Deirdre Connolly said, "We'll continue to disseminate this very important information on drug benefits and risks, but we’re just not going to do that by hiring external speakers,” Adding, “We want to ensure that no one even perceives us to be doing anything wrong.”

Hmmm, it would be easy for me, as a critic of GSK, to jump on that last quote... I much prefer to ask why Connolly chose to use the word 'continue' as if they [GSK] had been doing the right thing even when they did hire external speakers!

This latest move from the masters of spin should serve as a stark warning to all those journalists and TV doctor's who actually believe GSK are really going to clean up the rot that their CEO, Andrew Witty, once described as being an 'era'.

In the words of Jack Black, "Read between the lines...read between the lines."

Bob Fiddaman

The Glaxo Corporate Integrity Agreement - "Patient First Program"

Glaxo's Deirdre Connolly. "The edge in her voice became very noticeable after that question asking if there would be changes to Patient First."

CafePharma is a wonderful place to hang out.

For those that don't know, CafePharma is a forum designed for pharmaceutical reps to discuss all things pharma. The GlaxoSmithKline forum is a hot bed for potential whistleblowers. Lots of disgruntled ex-employees of Glaxo seem to come under fire if they say anything negative about GSK. Those firing the abuse are reps that currently work for GSK.

A thread caught my attention earlier, it was something I just had to save to PDF as I think, at some point, it may get pulled.

The thread, entitled, "Dierdre's Call", (sp) discusses recent events at GlaxoSmithKline, something the public don't ever get to read about.

First off, the back story...

After Glaxo were found guilty last year of a whole host of violations they had to enter into a corporate integrity agreement with the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the United States and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

Part of this agreement was to enter into a "Patient First Program". The program was implemented and agreed upon by GSK to ensure that "it will not provide financial reward (through compensation, including incentive compensation or otherwise)"

Seems a tad ironic considering the latest news from China.

Anyway... it appears that GSK's Deirdre Connolly is the subject of debate regarding a phone seminar with Glaxo reps. The topic of conversation was the Patient First program.

Apparently Connolly "lost it" when asked "if assessments and sims (simulations) were still the most effective way to assess reps?"

One poster writes, "The edge in her voice became very noticeable after that question asking if there would be changes to Patient First."

Another interesting comment comes in the shape of , "Total disdain for her teammates is what I heard in her voice. Perhaps she knows the field can't stand her beloved program of test taking and simulations but she is so hard headed that her attitude is its her way or the highway. Either way the call was further verification of the crap hole direction we have been led into. Steve Sons and HR play a big role in all this too - they have never sold a dose/script of anything yet they can tell everyone else how it is done - right."

Comically, and I just love this, a poster then adds, "Please keep us updated on Patient First China Edition."

The CafePharma thread, as usual, turns into a playground school fight with words such as 'retard' and  'moron' being thrown around. And these are the people employed by GlaxoSmithKline!

I wrote about Connolly back in July.

In an interview with the New York Times Connolly describes how both she and Witty shared coffee [how romantic] after she had read an article about him.

Soon after that meeting Connolly joined forces with Witty.

She told the NYT, "Our company is facing a changing health care market that demands higher-quality care, lower costs and better outcomes. As part of rethinking and redesigning our commercial model in the United States, we have revamped our procedures for training, evaluating and compensating our 5,000 sales people.

"This was under way when, last year, the company paid $3 billion in fines to the federal government because it had earlier promoted some antidepressants for unapproved uses and failed to report the status of studies about our diabetes drug. We are committed to ensuring that this never happens again."

I think whoever came up with the name "Patient First" program either has a perverse sense of humour or is just plain ignorant of Glaxo's history regarding patients.

If Glaxo CEO Andrew Witty refuses to meet with disgruntled patients to discuss their horrific withdrawal experiences on Seroxat (Paxil) then what hope does Deirdre Connolly have trying to sell the Patient First program to Glaxo reps!

I'm just loving the Andrew Witty era at GlaxoSmithKline.

Bob Fiddaman

Glaxo Face Botox and 'Moobs'Lawsuits

Ahem, um...it was just part of an era

There's something about this company that really makes me laugh.

Coming on the back of Andrew Witty's infamous "It was just part of an era" comment regarding the $3billion fine slammed down on his company, comes yet more shenanigans, this time in China where Glaxo are accused of bribing doctors with cash and other perks for prescribing Botox and tried to cover their tracks by using private email.

It's alleged that Glaxo's sales staff in China were instructed by local managers to use their personal email addresses to discuss marketing strategies related to Botox. In the personal emails, sales staff discussed rewarding doctors for prescribing Botox with cash payments and other rewards.

All of these shenanigans, according to a whistleblower, went on between the years 2004 and 2010 - still, all part of an era eh Andy?

More here.

Just as the dust settled on that breaking news comes another lawsuit against the British pharmaceutical giant.

Law360, the online subscription service for the legal profession, is reporting that a GSK sales director is claiming he was fired for being a man.

Joseph Cappellino filed his suit against GSK in the Superior Court of New Jersey on June 14.

Cappellino claims that he was pushed out and replaced by a young woman who, to his knowledge, had no sales management experience.

The case is Joseph Cappellino v. GlaxoSmithKline LLC, et al., case number L-001643-13

Poor guy but he must surely know how Glaxo operate?

If bribes don't work then maybe a pair of tits will.

Speaking of which...

I see Witty's good friend, Deidre Connolly is making the kind of promises that Witty made after the $3billion fine. In an interview with the New York Times Connolly describes how both she and Witty shared coffee [how romantic] after she had read an article about him.

Soon after that meeting Connolly joined forces with Witty.

She told the NYT, "Our company is facing a changing health care market that demands higher-quality care, lower costs and better outcomes. As part of rethinking and redesigning our commercial model in the United States, we have revamped our procedures for training, evaluating and compensating our 5,000 sales people.

"This was under way when, last year, the company paid $3 billion in fines to the federal government because it had earlier promoted some antidepressants for unapproved uses and failed to report the status of studies about our diabetes drug. We are committed to ensuring that this never happens again."

Ha! it was much more than promoting antidepressants and failing to report studies or was that spin at work, you know, hiding that one little word 'fraud'. Connolly failed to mention the kickbacks her company gave to doctors and, according to China, it's still very much a pastime of GSK sales managers and reps.

GlaxoSmithKline are a British pharmaceutical company who operate globally, they proudly boast to improve the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer... the Chinese doctors would certainly agree with that!

Bob Fiddaman

GSK Off-Label Promotion Continues

The GlaxoSmithKline Definition of 'Era'

Definition of Era:

A period of time characterized by particular circumstances, events, or personages - The Free Dictionary

A period of time that includes the present - GlaxoSmithKline

When GSK's CEO, Andrew Witty, claimed a few months ago that his company had turned the corner and were now operating by playing by the rules and regulations there were many that were convinced - there were many who gave Witty the benefit of the doubt.

There were many that turned a blind eye to Witty's involvement during the 'era' that he blamed on GSK's plea of guilty and subsequent $3 billion fine.

To be honest, I don't trust Andrew Witty, I don't trust any executive that works, or has worked for GlaxoSmithKline. Here we have a company who think nothing of giving drugs to children when they know that the drug could possibly kill those children. How could anyone trust a company who does that? How could anyone trust a company's CEO when he tells them it does not go on anymore and it was all part of an 'era' at GSK?

Well, the proof, as they say, is in the pudding.

GSK: "...accept that we operate differently today"

GSK's Deirdre Connolly

Deirdre Connolly, President - North America Pharmaceuticals, GlaxoSmithKline, delivered a speech to the Pharmaceutical Regulatory and Compliance Congress on November 5, the crux of which was a plea for people to start trusting GlaxoSmithKline again.

Again?

Connolly, speaking at the 13th annual Pharmaceutical Regulatory and Compliance Congress and Best Practices Forum, opened the gates to criticism when she told the audience, “We need those we serve, and those who make sure we conduct our business appropriately, to accept that we've changed … Continue to hold us accountable, but accept that we operate differently today.” 

Continue to hold us accountable?

Okay. Thanks for that D. I, for one, shall try my hardest.

Once again, and just like Glaxo CEO, we see the blaming of an era at GSK, implying that the current compliance protocol is robust and that they, GSK, are transparent. To be transparent one would have to give reasons why - Glaxo, on two occasions now, have covered themselves in garlands for opening their doors to show how transparent they are. What they don't tell us is that they were more than likely forced to open their doors as part of agreements and settlements with DA's and Department of Justice.

If, as Connolly suggests, “Trust is a two-way street,” then maybe she could start by retracting the study at the centre of many cases against her company.