GSK Management in a Tizz Over Fiddaman Blog

Following on from Parts I & II (Links below)

It always amazes me how corporate entities spring into action when news of alleged violations go public. None more so than GlaxoSmithKline who, it appears, have been keeping tabs of the Indian whistleblower allegations published on my blog.

Here's an email they sent to Navneet Kumar after he raised issues about the working violations of senior officials at GSK India.

After reading the email (below) you'll see a link to a British newspaper article from the Evening Standard that also highlights Navneet's allegations.

Navneet approached me shortly after Truthman published a series of emails on his blog, GSK Licence To Kill. Shortly after publishing the emails, Truthman took a sabbatical and took down his blog.

 Here's an email GSK to Kumar shortly after I published Part II:

"I am GSK’s Vice President for Compliance for Emerging Markets.  I understand that you have recently been in touch with Bob Fiddaman, author of a weblog that has recently posted several allegations against GSK that he attributed to you.  Please note that GSK takes all allegations of misconduct seriously, including those raised in Mr. Fiddaman’s weblog.  Pursuant to GSK’s Code of Conduct and Speak Up culture and procedures, we encourage everyone to raise concerns about potential unethical or illicit conduct.  During your employment, including in connection with the disciplinary proceedings that preceded your dismissal from the company last year, GSK’s policies and culture require the company to have provided you with opportunities to raise concerns relating to GSK’s business practices, including concerns with the conduct of any employees.  If you have documents, electronic data, or other evidence that you believe would be relevant in order for the company to conduct a thorough review of the allegations made in Mr. Fiddaman’s weblog or any other concerns that you may have, GSK would appreciate you providing such evidence to us.

"If you would like to speak with someone in the company about this or any other concerns that you believe have not been addressed, we would be happy to make a member of the company’s Corporate Investigations or Compliance Team available to speak to you."


---

COMING SOON

Kumar met with a GSK official after the above email was sent to him. I'll be publishing the outcome of that meeting soon.

Bob Fiddaman

Back Stories

India: GSK Whistleblower Names and Shames - Part I

India: GSK Whistleblower Names and Shames - Part II

London Evening Standard - Glaxo faces lawsuit as salesman claims he was bullied for whistleblowing

India: GSK Whistleblower Names and Shames - Part II

"This was not just a violation of the standard operating procedures and code of conduct at GSK but also violated several sections of the Constitution of India and Penal Code."

Following on from Part I

In summary, Navneet Kumar, a rep for GSK India, is blowing the whistle on the way the company operates its business out of India.

In Part I, we learned that Kumar was told by senior management to meet his targets by "hook or by crook". Further, Kumar was paying stockists out of his own pocket so senior management would reap the monetary benefits. This despite the GSK rule book stipulating that: "a drug rep should not be involved in any money-related matters with their stockists."

Kumar filed a complaint against his Regional Business Manager, Sanjeev Jolly, who apologized and, well, that was that. GSK officials took no disciplinary action against Jolly.

Part I also highlighted how Kumar's  Area Business Manager (ABM), Jitendra Singh Chauhan (pictured above), would phone him after midnight making demands - he'd even phone Kumar whilst he was on leave. Kumar didn't comply with the demands and was summoned to a meeting at GSK's New Delhi office by Sanjeev Jolly, who asked Kumar to resign. When he refused, Jolly told him, "I will finish your career" and that, "You and your family will be out on the street."

Part II

Because Kumar didn't resign he was issued a charge sheet. It's here that he alleges GSK management created trumped up charges against him because he had brought it to their attention about violations within the company, more specifically his senior management.

Whenever a charge sheet is issued against an employee, that employee has a right to be accompanied by a co-worker or a legal representative. Kumar told me:

"After the charge- sheet was issued, I requested to GSK management to allow me legal representation because of the allegations against me. My request of legal representation was denied by GSK management. So I fought  my case alone  in the enquiry proceedings. The charge sheet alleged they had witnesses but no such witnesses were ever provided by GSK. The enquiry officer was Vipin laroia and from the early stages of the enquiry it appeared he was siding with GSK management."

In fact, according to Kumar, The investigation was trying to hide the witness statements from him. He later learned that the only witnesses GSK had were the two senior managers who had harassed him from the get-go.

Kumar wrote to senior management and asked if they could change the investigating officer, they refused.

Kumar was once again summoned, once again, he was asked to resign, once again, he refused.

Of that meeting Kumar told me:

"Somewhere I noticed that they weren't recording whatever I was saying, which was most disturbed me. Actually, as per the domestic enquiry rules, the job of recorder is to type the ongoing conversation on his laptop, but under the shadow of the enquiry officer and general manager they were acting like that they were typing but at end of enquiry proceedings they only provided me with what management had stated, and not what I had stated. They had also omitted the threats and their calls for me to resign."

Aniruddha Kunte, GSK General Manager -Employee Relations

Kumar, once again, sought help from higher management, this time writing to Aniruddha Kunte, General Manager -Employee Relations.

Kunte told him that after investigating the claims (which surmounted to asking the Inquiry Officers whether or not they were true) he (Kunte) found no evidence that suggested Kumar was being harassed, further, Kumar was told that he should "actively participate in the ongoing Inquiry."

Kumar told me he signed papers under duress as he felt intimated. He wrote, once again to Kunte:

(Email has been altered by me, Bob Fiddaman, for clarity)

Re: The last inquiry session on 10/8/2016 at the Delhi office.

The proceedings of that day were signed by me under duress. Some issues are the same as I told you earlier. But no action was ever taken by you.

The behavior of Mr. Vipin(EO) was the same. He was trying his best to harass me, he is totally under the influence of management.

During the meeting, Mr. Jolly was trying his best to put unnecessary pressure on me. Even when I told him that I was disturbed by his actions he didn't change his behavior and continued to humiliate me.

Therefore, I am requesting you to please make arrangements of a video recording of the Inquiry session.

Regards 

Navneet Yadav (Kumar)

--

Kunte never followed up and, more importantly, never provided the video recording to Kumar.

The charges against Kumar stood and at this point, he was joined in 'the field' by his ABM Jitendra Singh Chauhan. Basically, Chauhan would follow Kumar around to see if he was meeting his company objectives, which included meeting doctors and dealers as per company guidelines.

Kumar claims that on day one, Chauhan wasted 2 hours of the day in efforts to make Kumar's daily targets impossible. Kumar also alleges that Chauhan would take company vehicles off other reps which resulted in those reps not being able to meet their targets, he even, at times, according to Kumar, used to demand Kumar's car and bike for personal use. Once again, Kumar brought this to the attention of GSK's employee relations manager, once again, nothing was done.

Chauhan continued to waste time, resulting in Kumar not being able to meet his company objectives. Because of this, and because of the restrictions placed on in, Kumar invited Chauhan to ride with him in the evening - he failed to respond to any of Kumar's text messages suggesting this.

Enter the Handwriting Expert

The charges against Kumar continued, in fact, according to Kumar, he had to endure 10 inquiry sessions. On one such occasion, they accused him of not visiting a doctor that he claimed he had. GSK management claimed that the doctor was out of India at the time so Kumar could not have visited him. Kumar, in his defense, told me:

"I requested that the Inquiry Officer and Management Representative provide evidence in support of their allegation that the doctor was not present in India. After a while they produced a letter purportedly from the doctor. In it, he had written that he was indeed out of the country."

Regarding the apparent letter, Kumar told me:

"I examined that letter very carefully and I realized that it wasn’t written by the doctor. The handwriting matched that of my Area Business Manager, Jitendra Singh Chauhan. I brought this to the attention of the Enquiry Officer who quickly dismissed it."

After this, Kumar acquired the services of a certified handwriting expert who came to the conclusion that the apparent letter from the doctor was, in fact, the same handwriting as Kumar's ABM, Jitendra Singh Chauhan. Armed with this evidence, Kumar showed the Investigating Officer at yet another Inquiry session. He told me:

"In a closed inquiry session room, they abused me and threatened me. I tried to submit my expert handwriting report but they wouldn't accept it from me. Had they accepted it,  they would have seen clearly that Jitendra Singh Chauhan, with the assistance of  Sanjeev Jolly, forged the letter. This was not just a violation of the standard operating procedures and code of conduct at GSK but also violated several sections of the Constitution of India and Penal Code."

Compare two letters and judge for yourself. Were they, as the handwriting expert suggested, both written by the same hand? (Click image to enlarge)

The top is an example of Kumar's Area Business Manager, Jitendra Singh Chauhan, whilst the bottom is, apparently, from the doctor who, it is alleged, was out of the country.

Click Image to Enlarge

Kumar was dismissed from his position at GSK.

Shortly before his dismissal, Kumar sent emails to GSK's Global Head of Investigations, Jason Lord, and GSK's then chief, Andrew Witty. Included in his emails was the handwriting expert report (below) 

Those emails and responses coming up in Part III

Bob Fiddaman

India: GSK Whistleblower Names and Shames - Part I

Navneet Kumar started his career with GSK India (Roorkee HQ) on March 2011 where he was assigned to meet doctors on daily a basis to persuade them to prescribe GSK drugs to their patients and to visit other Health Care Professionals (pharmacists, etc.) Kumar also used to organize 'Doctor Roundtable' meetings, and 'Continuing Medical Education' (CME) meetings for GSK product promotions. His job also saw him report to his Area Business Manager (ABM), Mr. Jitendra Singh Chauhan and indirectly to his Regional Business Manager (RBM), Sanjeev Jolly.

Kumar was awarded the 'Super Star' for his excellent sales performance and was given the opportunity to travel to Dubai (paid for by GSK). Many other sales awards were won by Kumar, and all seemed fine with his chosen career at GSK India, that was until he started to notice many irregularities, discrepancies, and became the victim of harassment for not adhering to the unethical sales pressures bestowed upon him by GSK management.

And now, Kumar no longer wants to remain quiet.

Kumar alleges that he and colleagues wrote to GSK Senior Management on the 29th December 2012 about a violation.

Septran (trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole) is a combination of two antibiotics used to treat ear infections, urinary tract infections, bronchitis, traveler's diarrhea, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia. 

On each last working day of the month, Kumar collected orders from stockists. Stockists, according to Kumar, are people who are authorized to buy drugs directly from the company and supply those drugs to chemists or doctors whilst adding their 10% margin.

Kumar told me:

"Stockists buy drugs from the company. Now, let us take an example - GSK's branded drug Septran has a maximum retail price of 100 Rupees. The price to retailers (chemists, etc) costs around 23.5%, around 76 rupees. Now, the same drug will cost stockists 10% less, around 66 rupees because stockists directly buy from the company. 

"Now. it was my manager who was forcing drug reps to do an adjustment. An adjustment is where we have to establish a mutual understanding with stockists. We force them to sell drugs at lower prices like if something is costing them 66 rupees we have to force them to sell the drug on for 60 rupees or even less. This how extra sales will be done. 

"The difference will be paid to stockists by drug reps through their incentive bonus and some part of their salary. This is the cost of staying in the job at GSK.

Managers earn their incentives by threatening the reps. If a drug rep reaches his targets automatically managers will achieve their targets. But the drug rep has to make an adjustment so the money he earns will go to the stockists. Managers earn incentives without any hurdles."

By "hook or by crook"

Kumar alleges that his Regional Business Manager, Sanjeev Jolly (pictured above), told him to reach his sales targets by "hook or by crook". Further, Kumar alleges that Jolly threatened to take action against him if he "didn't do as he was told."

In a nutshell, Kumar tells me, Jolly was telling him to pay his stockist out of his own pocket whilst Jolly reaped the monetary benefits.

According to Kumar, the standard operating procedure at GSK specifies that a drug rep should not be involved in any money-related matters with their stockists.

Other GSK reps have, in the past, received the same kind of threats from Jolly, Kumar and, as a result, saw them write an email to top officials at GSK. According to Kumar GSK's sales reps complained when Jolly instructed them to place an order of 100 cases of Septran tablets.

A grievance meeting was conducted at GSK's New Delhi HQ, Jolly apologized and, well, that was that. GSK officials took no disciplinary action against Jolly.

Jolly's LinkedIn page can be found here - His tagline says that he is an "inquisitive marketeer with an undying thirst to learn and achieve."

According to Kumar, he was the most senior rep but after the grievance meeting against Jolly he was transferred from his hometown to Dehradun (another GSK HQ) in 2015 without any given reason. That's when the harassment started. Kumar told me, "He started harassing me with the help of two Area Business Manager's (ABM), Jitendra Singh Chauhan and Manish Sachdev. They collaborated in handing me a Dealer list on which achieving the company objective was very difficult. Chauhan also sent me unnecessary emails and pressured me to carry out unethical work practices."

This harassment didn't stop at Jolly. Kumar told me that his ABM, Jitendra Singh Chauhan, "...took a massive advantage of his position. He used to send me phone messages at midnight, non-working days and holidays. He used to call me from his home for personal work. When I started objecting to his unnecessary demands, he started taking advantage of his position to harass me even more. He created false allegations against me and started making his own rules whilst overlooking the company guidelines."

Chauhan (Seen below as 'ABM Boss' (1)) told Kumar he wanted him to call 12 dealers per day. The company guideline, however, stipulates that reps will meet no more than 6.5 dealers per day (2)

(1)

(see Work Norms/Rules a) and e(i)

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

(2)

"I will finish your career, you and your family will be out on the street."

In effect, Chauhan was almost doubling the workload of Kumar, who believes the unrealistic request to target 12 dealers a day was an effort to get him to resign. I've seen many screenshots of the text messages and, it appears, Chauhan was, in many instances,  sending messages just before and after midnight.

Kumar, despite the demands being put on him, decided to continue working, he would not resign. 

Sometime later, however, he was called into a meeting at GSK's New Delhi office by Sanjeev Jolly. Kumar told me:

"I thought he called me for in for a training program . In a closed room he gave me a white paper and I was asked to submit my resignation. I was shocked and refused to resign. He started threatning me and told me "I will finish your career" and that, "You and your family will be out on the street." He also told me that he will not allow any company to recruit me.

"I was under immense pressure to resign but I didn't. I asked him to provide reasons for why he is doing all these things. Then he presented a charge-sheet in front of me and, once again, asked me to resign. I decided to go with the charge-sheet rather than resignation. He (Jolly) did the same thing with my ex-colleague some months previously, he, like me, was called to the New Delhi office, and under pressure from Jolly, he resigned. This a pattern by GSK management to threaten the employee and they usually resign because the pressure is overwhelming for them. I didn't do that."

Coming up in Part II

• How Navneet alleges that there is no code of conduct amongst GSK India's senior management
• More evidence of retaliation and harassment
• Alleged forgery by GSK management
• Emails to former GSK CEO, Andrew Witty, GSK's Global Head of Investigation, Jason Lord, and current CEO, Emma Walmsley, and some other top officials of GSK
• For the first time, Kumar will reveal a document that, so far, has been unseen by the public.

Bob Fiddaman

Back story - Truthman Blog

Dinner with Blair

Nice title for a post. Fortunately, for me at least, it's not Tony Blair.

Meeting up with GSK Whistleblower, Blair Hamrick this week. Dinner, chat and a few beers.

Should prove interesting.

You can see a previous interview with Blair in the video below.

I'll be tweeting this post to the 'usual suspects', Glaxo, FDA, MHRA and Glaxo's attorneys.

A future post will feature how it all went.

Bob Fiddaman

GSK Hiked Product Prices to Fund Bribery Scam

So, this is how it worked folks.

GlaxoSmithKline China, under the management of Mark Reilly, allegedly told sales reps to bribe doctors, hospitals and health institutions. As a result GSK's sales soared from 3.9 billion Yuan in 2009 to 6.9 billion Yuan in 2012.

The video below shows a GSK sales manager...

"If the doctors prescribed more of our drugs they would be rewarded accordingly.

"We would treat them to dinners or buy gifts for their families, sometimes it was even more direct, we just gave supermarket gift cards or cash during holidays."

Obviously GSK would need to balance the books with so much bribery money going out of the door. So, how did they do this?

Well, Chinese authorities have learned that GSK simply inflated drug prices by declaring high cost at Chinese customs.

Authorities found that GSK's drugs were being sold to China at prices that far exceeded the prices they charges other countries, sometimes as much as 8 times. [Fig 1]

I'm guessing that this wasn't just down to Reilly, he must have had help from elsewhere, from senior management in the UK perhaps?

Fig 1

GSK's Mark Reilly, whom I wrote about previously on this blog, faces up to 10 years in prison.

Here's the CCTV News report.

Bob Fiddaman.

Back story

I'm Just a Blogger - Here's GSK Served on Prawn Crackers

I'm Just a Blogger - Here's GSK Served on Prawn Crackers

GSK's Mark Reilly faces up to 10 years in prison

Thought I'd give my take on GSK and the recent [ahem] bribery scandals in various parts of the world. I say 'my take' because it's something that GSK or their highly paid attorney's can't 'take' from me. It's mine and I wish to share it.

So, news today that Chinese officials have charged the former British boss of GSK's China operations.

And what have they accused him of?

Well, nothing out of the ordinary [by GSK's standards that is]

Mark Reilly fled China when the going got tough. He later returned, not as a goodwill gesture - he returned because the Chinese police wished to interview him, a result of which saw him arrested then, some months later, charged with offences relating to bribery.

GlaxoSmithKline CEO, Andrew Witty, has kept quiet since his initial statement he made midway through last year. He claimed that neither he or GSK HQ in the UK knew anything about the corrupt practices occurring in their China branch.

So news today that has implicated a British employee who has been charged with corporate bribery, bribing non-government officials and bribing business units should force some kind of statement from Witty. Alas, he remains tight-lipped.

Are we expected to believe that Mark Reilly, upon his initial return to the UK in July 2013, lied to Andrew Witty?

10 days into the investigation and GSK's head of operations in China, who at this point fled the country, is replaced by someone else. Who smelled the rat, or was this just standard procedure when an employee from GSK is under investigation?

Reilly has enjoyed an illustrious career at GSK. He joined them in 1989, 5 years later, in 1994, he became Finance Director, Discovery Research, WWR&D before moving on to become Assistant Corporate Controller, Corporate Finance, a position that lasted 2 years.

In 1999 he became Vice President Finance UK Pharmaceuticals, this lasted for just over 4 years before he decided to try his hand abroad.

From 2003 to 2006 Reilly was based in Singapore, his title, Vice President Finance, Asia Pacific.

He returned to the UK to take up the position of Senior Vice President, International Finance - this lasted just 2 years before Reilly was, once again, jet-setting.

Between January 2009 – January 2010 he was General Manager, China Pharmaceuticals. In February 2010 he added Hong Kong to his title - thus becoming General Manager, China Pharmaceuticals and HK.

So, where exactly did it go wrong for Reilly?

Was he just a bad egg in a company who have always played things by the book?

Was he the runt of the litter?

Was he just a rogue employee who went off the rails because of a personal greed?

Or is this simply a culture at GSK?

It was early in his career at GSK, 1994, that Reilly was introduced into the world of finance. From that point Reilly seems to have made a very rapid climb up the promotional ladder at GSK.

Reilly has a BSc, Medical Sciences, he has a PhD, Pharmacology/Neurosciences - strangely, between 1987 – 1989 he added an ACA in Business, Finance and Accounting to his list of honours. The ACA qualification is one of the most advanced learning and professional development programmes available.

Safe to assume then that Reilly was no mug.

We can see from a 2010 presentation given by Reilly that a goal of GSK was to gain more sales of its respiratory drugs in China.

In fact page 12 of his presentation pretty much spells it out for us all. [Fig 1]

"Respiratory market is a major opportunity"

Fig 1

Let's look at when news of the Chinese scandal first broke.

According to interviews published by Xinhua, the official state-run news agency, several GSK employees have confessed to bribing doctors with gifts, travel, lecture fees and cash bonuses to persuade them to prescribe more of the company's drugs.

A man surnamed Li, who is a regional sales manager at GSK China in central China's Henan Province, said that salespersons at the company received special training on sales skills and methods, especially how to maintain relations with hospitals and doctors, Xinhua reports.

The man, who is in charge of selling respiratory drugs to more than 10 hospitals in the province's capital city Zhengzhou, added that salespersons established good personal relations with doctors by catering to their pleasures or offering them money, in order to make them prescribe more drugs. [Source]

 "Respiratory market is a major opportunity"

A doctor from a “reputable hospital” whose real name was not given, claimed that one GSK representative had “blatantly offered kickbacks to doctors”.

“For example, 20 yuan [£2.11] for each pack of Seretide, an asthma-treating inhaler; and 10 yuan [£1.05] for each dose of Flixotide, an asthma-treating spray.”

If a doctor appeared reluctant to accept cash, GSK “salespeople” would offer them “gifts, free travel after meetings and lecture fees.”

“In fact, many doctors received lecture fees even when the lectures did not exist,” Xinhua reported. [Source]

Seretide is a drug manufactured and marketed by GSK, a drug used in the treatment of...you've guessed it, respiratory problems. It's also the same drug that Reilly referred to in his 2010 presentation [Fig 1]

"Less than 1m current patients on Seretide"

What better way to increase the number of patients on Seretide than to offer cash incentives to doctor's who prescribe it!

Putting the Chinese scandal aside for just one moment. Let's just focus on a BBC Panorama programme that aired a few weeks ago in the UK.

Panorama's 'Who's paying your doctor?' saw investigative journalist Shelley Jofre unearth new evidence that Glaxo were pretty much doing the same thing in Poland.

Jarek Wisniewiski, who worked as a sales rep for GSK Poland for eight years told Panorama that in 2010, he worked on a marketing programme across Poland to promote Seretide. He said that, on paper, money was provided for educating patients about the drug but claims it was, in reality, paying doctors to prescribe more of the medicine. He added...

“I pay for education and in the same meeting I said that I need more prescriptions for Seretide. So … they knew exactly for what I pay.” [Source]

So, how did we get from one illegal promotional push of Seretide in China to another illegal promotional push of Seretide in Poland. The two countries are miles apart.

Was an executive decision made that "We should do as the Chinese do" or was it merely a coincidence that GSK Poland was operating in pretty much the same way as GSK China?

One drug pushed illegally in two different countries and Glaxo's CEO knew nothing about it?

Back in July 2013 a Glaxo spokesperson claimed that...

"We take all allegations of bribery and corruption seriously. We continuously monitor our businesses to ensure they meet our strict compliance procedures. We have done this in China and found no evidence of bribery or corruption of doctors or government officials." [Source]

Exactly who is it at GSK that monitor its businesses to ensure they meet their strict compliance procedures?

Why hasn't this person/persons been hauled over the coals for failing to join the dots with regard to the bribery that was, seemingly rife, in China?

Thing is, and this has been evident throughout the years with GlaxoSmithKline, they are a company - any wrong-doing by an employee is covered up and it's left to outside investigators to try and find the culprit, the man/woman who 'pushed the button', so to speak.

It's only when the outside investigation pinpoints the ring leaders that we have Glaxo come out and say how shocked they are and that they will do everything in their power to help the investigation.

This is when GSK become transparent, they do so not of their own freewill, they do so because their hand has been forced by the strong arm of the law. However, they do it in such a way that dupes the general public into believing that they have always been as transparent as ever.

Think about it. If GSK were transparent they wouldn't have had so many lawsuits filed against them. Lawsuits are only filed because GSK initially deny charges brought against them. In law, GSK don't want to have to admit to anything because it sets a precedence - this is why we see them time and time again settle cases brought against them out of court - when a case is settled they get those who brought the claims against them to sign confidentiality agreements - in essence these agreements state that GSK accept no liability of the charges made against them.

China is a different kettle of fish though. Legal experts are suggesting that GSK's Mark Reilly could face up to 10 years in prison. Let's hope it's not Beijing's Municipal Prison.

Troy Bremer, an Australian found guilty of fraud, spent a number of years at Beijing's Municipal Prison. "The officers destroy your body, mind, heart and spirit", he told the Sydney Herald in an exclusive interview back in 2013.

Heaven forbid that Reilly gets sentenced to 10 years in a hell hole such as Beijing's Municipal Prison. Whatever he's done it does not warrant such abuse.

Hopefully Reilly will see sense and try to cut a deal. The most obvious 'Get out of jail card' he could play would be to name names, to tell the authorities he did what he did because he was told to by senior executives.

I mean, why protect the scum that has left him out to dry?

Bob Fiddaman

GSK's Mark Reilly Accused of Running a "massive bribery network"

Chinese officials investigating claims of bribery and corruption at GlaxoSmithKline's Chinese HQ have accused former head of China operations, Mark Reilly, of "personally running a "massive bribery network"."

Reilly, it is claimed, pressed his sales team to pay doctors, hospital officials and health institutions to use GSK products, resulting in the "illegal revenue" of hundreds of millions of dollars. He is also suspected of bribing government officials in Beijing and Shanghai.

Reilly left China before Chinese authorities started their investigation but returned to assist Chinese authorities with their inquiries.

Four other GSK employees, namely; legal affairs director Zhao Hongyan, vice president and operations manager Liang Hong, human resources director Zhang Guowei, and business development manager Huang Hong were arrested in 2013. Hong had already gone on Chinese television and admitted to the crimes and explained how the scheme worked, including the use of fake conferences and travel agencies to create receipts for services that were never performed. The surplus funds were allegedly then used to pay bribes.

In August 2013  China’s official news wire, Xinhua, quoted a 35-year-old female medical representative who reportedly worked for a GSK regional sales manager named only as Mr Li.

The woman, named as Ms Wang, said “some executives gave clear directives to the sales department to offer bribes to doctors with money or opportunities to attend academic conferences.”

Ms Wang said she would even go so far as fulfilling some doctors’ “sexual desires” in order to “meet their needs” and persuade them to prescribe more drugs."

GSK's CEO Andrew Witty, who last year played down the $3billion fine slapped on his company for kickbacks and promotion of drugs off-label, must be totally embarrassed by the current state of affairs at Glaxo.

Witty, now claims that the allegations appear to be true and feels.“personally deeply disappointing,”

Witty, of course, wouldn't be Witty if he didn't play down the allegations.

He claims that there are control mechanisms in place to prevent bribery and other forms of corruption, but that the methods these individuals used “would have been difficult to find using our controls.”

In other words GSK's control mechanisms simply don't work, a bit like the drugs they manufacture, huh?

Back in December Witty joined British PM David Cameron on a trip to China (probably an attempt to douse the flames on the Chinese allegations.) [Back Story]

Bob Fiddaman

Related:

Witty Plays Down China Scandal

Witty Witty Bang Wang. The Glaxo Gangbang...Allegedly

Andrew Witty... I know narrrrrrrrthing

葛兰素史克公司 腐败 For Researching Chinagate

Glaxo's Private Investigator Arrested

Book Your Holidays With GSK Travel

Andrew Witty... I know narrrrrrrrthing - Part II

Hammer to Fall on GSK's Chinese Executives

GSK - Latest Corruption Scandal In Iraq

Fined over $3 billion for violating federal law in the US, part of a corruption investigation in China - What more for British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline?

Well, a whistleblower has come forward alleging that GlaxoSmithKline employees in Iraq are up to no good.

According to the Wall Street Journal [WSJ] "A person familiar with Glaxo's Mideast operations emailed the U.K. drug company late last year and earlier this year to report what the person said were corrupt practices in Iraq, including continuing issues and alleged misconduct dating from last year and 2012."

WSJ adds, "The emails cite behavior similar to Glaxo's alleged misconduct in China, including alleged bribery of physicians."

The allegations cited include but are not limited to:

• Hiring 16 government-employed physicians and pharmacists in Iraq as paid sales representatives for the company while they continued to work for the government.

• A government-employed Iraqi emergency-room physician prescribing Glaxo products, even when they weren't in the hospital's pharmacy and a competitor's brand was in stock.

• Paying expenses to government-employed doctors to attend international conferences.

The WSJ also writes... "In 2012 Glaxo Iraq won the contract to supply the company's Rotarix vaccine, Glaxo paid for a workshop in Lebanon for Iraqi Ministry of Health officials, the email said. That included paying for a doctor's family to travel to Lebanon "so it would be a family vacation for him at the hotel."

In 2011 Glaxo Iraq signed an agreement with Modern Drug Industries, an Iraqi company, to manufacture and package drugs in Baghdad. At the time GSK said producing drugs closer to the customer would improve their cost base and enable them to sell products on at an "access price".

Hmmmm.

GSK's company tagline is "We are a leading healthcare company that helps people to do more, feel better and live longer"

Bob Fiddaman



Hat tip - The Truthman

Will Cameron Call off the GSK Hounds?

The South China Morning Post is reporting that Britain's Serious Fraud Office plans to prosecute or fine GlaxoSmithKline for engaging in bribery in China.

For those that don't know, GlaxoSmithKline were implicated in a series of bribery allegations last year in China. The Chinese government accused British pharmaceutical giant, Glaxo of paying almost $500 million in bribes, mainly to doctors who prescribed its products.

The allegations have been played down by Glaxo chief, Andrew Witty, who last year claimed, that there are control mechanisms in place to prevent bribery and other forms of corruption, but that the methods these individuals used “would have been difficult to find using our controls.”

The allegations also claim that Glaxo reps were trained to offer sexual services to Dr's in an effort to get them to prescribe more drugs. China’s official news wire, Xinhua, last year quoted a 35-year-old female “medical representative” who reportedly worked for a GSK regional sales manager named only as Mr Li.

The woman, named as Ms Wang, said “some executives gave clear directives to the sales department to offer bribes to doctors with money or opportunities to attend academic conferences.”

Ms Wang said she would even go so far as fulfilling some doctors’ “sexual desires” in order to “meet their needs” and persuade them to prescribe more drugs.

Furthermore, it's been alleged that Glaxo reps organised all expenses paid trips for Chinese doctors to tour the scenic river town of Guilin, China's most picturesque region which has long been one of the world's most famous travel destinations.

It's also alleged that Chinese healthcare professionals were also sent to other exotic destinations such as Hungary and Greece in an effort to get them to prescribe Botox, best known for its ability to combat crow's feet and other facial wrinkles. Botox has another 26 treatable indications which include chronic migraines,  uncontrollable blinking and overactive bladders, ironically, losing control of your bladder is one of the side effects associated with Botox.

It will be interesting to see how this unfolds. Personally, I don't think the British government or fraud squad will intervene. Witty is a close friend of British PM, David Cameron and his leverage to pull GSK out of the UK should persuade Cameron to call off the hounds.

Bob Fiddaman

Cronyism, Chinese Style

Cronyism - Favoritism shown to old friends without regard for their qualifications, as in political appointments to office.

British PM, David Cameron, is off to China, apparently he needs to drum up some business. It appears that the Prime Minister can't do this alone, he needs to convince the Chinese government that the UK are good guys to deal with.

So, who better to tag along with Cameron than his old chum, Andrew Witty.

Witty, whose company, GlaxoSmithKline, are currently being investigated by Chinese officials for corruption, bribery and other misdemeanors, is part of David Cameron's business council.

I find this really amusing. Here we have the leader of a country who wishes to convince Chinese officials that business with the UK is the way forward. To help convince China that the UK have wonderful business practices the UK bring along a knight, a sir, if you will, whose company, a British one, who are currently under investigation by Chinese authorities.

Laugh? I almost soiled myself!

However, this knight is not shining, in fact Witty must be cringing at the thought of being asked about Glaxo's behaviour in China. I can just imagine how the phone call between Cameron and Witty went. Maybe it was something like this...

DC - Hey, Andy me old mucka, DC here, you fancy an all expenses paid trip to China?

AW - Are you taking the piss, DC?

DC - No mate, honest, we seriously need to drum up some business and investors. The UK has pretty much had it and nobody really trusts me anymore, if you believe the polls that is.

AW - But you are aware the Chinese authorities are investigating my company, aren't you?

DC - Of course Andy but why are you worried about something so trivial, it never happened on your watch did it?

AW - No, and that's the position that I have taken. I would have used the era excuse but it was fairly recent and I just didn't think people would buy into it again.

DC - So, let's have dinner. I've invited some of our business greats along too.

AW - But don't you think it will be awkward for me if the press start to ask probing questions about the bribery allegations?

DC - Andy, Andy, Andy. C'mon, It's just a few bad eggs, don't stress my friend. Bring some Seroxat with you in case you get an anxiety attack.

AW - Sod that, have you seen what that shit does to kids?

DC - Just part of an era though, hey mate.

**Laughter**


Back stories on the China scandal below.

Bob Fiddaman


Witty Plays Down China Scandal

Witty Witty Bang Wang. The Glaxo Gangbang...Allegedly

Andrew Witty... I know narrrrrrrrthing

葛兰素史克公司 腐败 For Researching Chinagate

Glaxo's Private Investigator Arrested

Book Your Holidays With GSK Travel

Andrew Witty... I know narrrrrrrrthing - Part II

Hammer to Fall on GSK's Chinese Executives

Hammer to Fall on GSK's Chinese Executives

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Andrew Witty... I know narrrrrrrrthing - Part II

"When the problems were exposed, the company pushed all responsibilities to individual employees."

Back in late August I wrote about the denial coming from GSK UK regarding Chinagate. Glaxo chief, Andrew "All part of an era" Witty, claimed that GSK HQ in London knew nothing about the fraud occurring in China. [Not on my watch, honest guv]

Well, now it seems that the whole operation was set up from the UK headquarters, at least that's what Reuters seem to be reporting.

To be fair to GSK, the Reuters article doesn't really elaborate on its opening of, "A Chinese police investigation into drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline has discovered that alleged bribery of doctors in China was coordinated by the British company and was not the work of individual employees, state media reported on Tuesday."

In fact what follows is claims that it was organised by GSK China and not just individual employees. This kind of makes a mockery of the company statements we've seen over the past couple of months, statements such as: "We remain deeply concerned by the allegations of fraudulent behavior and ethical misconduct in our China business." [Psychopath Alert]

The Chinese news agency Xinhua are reporting that Huang Hong, general manager for GSK's business operations in China, has claimed that GSK implemented salary policies based on sales volumes and such goals could not be achieved without "dubious corporate behavior". Furthermore Xinhua are also reporting that Guo Jianhua, head of recruitment at GSK China, was quoted by the official People's Daily newspaper as saying the company had turned a blind eye to illegal behavior.

"When the problems were exposed, the company pushed all responsibilities to individual employees," Guo said.

Witty, of course, can still deny that he didn't know what was going on and I'm sure he will. I've yet to see anyone from this company take account for their abhorrent behaviour.

Can you imagine Witty coming out and apologising and telling the global public that he did indeed know and the whole thing was part of GSK's global business plan. His knighthood would be taken away from him, company shares would sky dive and lawsuits would follow.

Next time you read or hear any statement coming from GSK, bear in mind that they may only be saying what they want their shareholders to hear.

On a footnote U.S. authorities are now investigating GlaxoSmithKline for violations of U.S. anti-bribery laws in China.

This British company really should be being investigated by British authorities, don't you think?

Bob Fiddaman

葛兰素史克公司 腐败 For Researching Chinagate

So, last night I came up with the idea of translating English to Chinese, to get a heads up of what is going on in China and what is not being reported in the western world.

I've devised a list of key words that advocates, journalists and the general public may have fun using.

First off, 葛兰素史克公司 - cut and paste this into Google and see where it leads you...

Pretty cool eh?

Now, you can add the following search terms to the one above, remembering to add a space.

Here's the list - have fun folks

彼得·汉弗莱 = Peter Humphrey

赵洪彦 = Zhao Hongyan

张国伟 = Zhang Guowei

梁洪 = Liang Hong

黄虹 = Huang Hong

葛兰素史克 = GSK

安德鲁·威蒂 = Andrew Witty

回扣 = kickbacks

妓女 = prostitute

性方面的好处 = sexual favours

帕罗西汀 = paroxetine

非法 = illegal

自杀 = suicide

支付 = payments

腐败 = corruption

贿赂 = bribes

行贿 = bribery

肉毒杆菌 = botox

舞弊 = fraud

举报人 = whistleblower

名人 = celebrities

哮喘 = asthma

处方 = prescriptions

代笔 = ghostwriting

卖淫 = prostitution

旅行 = travel

销售队伍 = salesforce

刑事 = criminal

有罪 = guilty




Bob Fiddaman

Glaxo's Private Investigator Arrested

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Andrew Witty... I know narrrrrrrrthing

Like a script from the 70's classic Fawlty Towers, GSK Head, Andrew Witty, has recently claimed that GSK HQ in London knew nothing about the fraud occurring in China [back stories here, here, here]

If Witty is telling the truth one has to ask why he knew nothing. He's the head of the company and surely this means keeping his fingers on the pulse at GSK, both at home and globally.

Witty, who last year, blamed Glaxo's history of fraudulent promotion on "part of an era", is, in essence, deflecting blame on his own poor performance as a Chief Executive.

Glaxo were found guilty and fined a record breaking $3 billion for that particular crime and Witty spun his company's dirty deeds by blaming an era that he, allegedly, had nothing to do with. So, he was, it can be argued, blaming his predecessor Jean Pierre Garnier.

Nothing changes. Now, it appears, Witty is, once again, deflecting blame.

Digging through the archives we can see that this isn't the first time Glaxo have been embroiled in controversy regarding payments made to doctors.

In 2003, admittedly before Witty was in charge, the Finance Police in Veneto, Italy, charged 72 Italian doctors and Glaxo employees with bribery and corruption, charging that Glaxo employees showered cash, gifts and trips on doctors to encourage them to prescribe more Glaxo products. [1]

Déjà vu anyone?

Just like the Chinese allegations Glaxo were accused back in 2003 of wining and dining doctors and sending them on lavish trips in an effort to get them to prescribe more of it's products.

How did Glaxo's then medical director, Giuseppe Recchia, react to news of the illegal activities?

“We think we acted according to the standards fixed by the law.”

Marvelous isn't it.

During the 2003 investigation it was learned that 26 chiefs and assistant chiefs of hospital departments, five university professors, and four heads of hospital pharmacies were invited to “medical tours” to places such as Monte Carlo in the days of the Formula 1 Grand Prix or to Sharm el Sheik or Damascus, or they received tens of thousands of pounds cash with fictitious justifications.

The current Chinese investigation alleges pretty much the same although we can throw prostitution into the pot as well.

I wonder if Witty's predecessor knew nothing about what was going on in Italy - that seems to be the standard these days. Run a large corporate company, cover oneself in garlands with praise received, deny any knowledge of any wrong-doing when criticism is aimed and fired.

Witty claims that London HQ had no knowledge of what was going on in China. His London HQ have known for years that thousands of people have found Seroxat withdrawal problematic... they still did nothing to help these consumers.

If Witty had any gumption about him, if he really wanted to practice what he preached then maybe it's time for him to sit down with Seroxat victims, maybe he could write directly to Secure Law, the UK law firm representing claimants who became addicted to Glaxo's wonder pill.

Then again, I'm guessing even Witty would find it difficult to face victims or even their representatives... he'd have to get past his own lawyers first who would gently advise him that meeting with Seroxat victims/representatives would be an admission of guilt... and we can't have GSK looking guilty can we?

What happened in China "I know nothing"

What happened in Italy? I know nothing"

Ignorance is bliss eh.

This one's for you Mr Witty.




[1] Italians Link Glaxo to Illegal Doctor Gifts

Bob Fiddaman

Book Your Holidays With GSK Travel

It's okay, GSK haven't branched out into the holiday business, although if they did one could only speculate that the choice of airline may have defective planes.

This is more about what's been going on in China over the past few years.

Glaxo, Britain's largest pharmaceutical company, are currently under investigation by Chinese officials regarding payments, holidays and sexual favours made to healthcare professionals in an effort to get them to prescribe more of GSK's branded drugs.

The Wall Street Journal are reporting that Glaxo reps organised all expenses paid trips to Chinese doctors to tour the scenic river town of Guilin, China's most picturesque region which has long been one of the world's most famous travel destinations.

The WSJ are also alleging that Chinese healthcare professionals were also sent to other exotic destinations such as Hungary and Greece in an effort to get them to prescribe Botox, best known for its ability to combat crow's feet and other facial wrinkles. Botox has another 26 treatable indications which include chronic migraines,  uncontrollable blinking and overactive bladders, ironically, losing control of your bladder is one of the side effects associated with Botox.

Glaxo reps, according to documents leaked to the WSJ, also offered special payments to doctors who sold the most amount of drugs within the years quarter.

As all this filters through from China lest we forget that female reps were, allegedly, also instructed to prostitute themselves to doctors [back story].

Whatever it takes eh?

According to the WSJ, Glaxo officials have declined to make any comment regarding the latest allegations. This is normally the stance, they wait and then issue a denial and "we are currently investigating" type of statement.

You gotta love this company, they are the masters of avoidance, in more ways than one. They avoid the truth, even when evidence is overwhelming and they avoid custodial sentences because nobody can ever get to the root of the problem. Glaxo reps will say they were trained, Glaxo's managers were say they weren't... litigation ensues and deals are struck... Glaxo walk free without entering any guilty plea... in other words, they continue to bang the 'we've done nothing wrong' drum.

The WSJ article can be read here

Bob Fiddaman

Witty Witty Bang Wang. The Glaxo Gangbang...Allegedly

More on the GSK Chinagate scandal. The telegraph are reporting that Chinese authorities have released more details regarding the fraudulent behaviour of the company that wants us all to live longer and feel better.

It's alleged that Glaxo reps were trained to offer sexual services to Dr's in an effort to get them to prescribe more drugs. How does one train a rep to prostitute themselves?

The Telegraph claim that China’s official news wire, Xinhua, "quoted a 35-year-old female “medical representative” who reportedly worked for a GSK regional sales manager named only as Mr Li.

"The woman, named as Ms Wang, said “some executives gave clear directives to the sales department to offer bribes to doctors with money or opportunities to attend academic conferences.”

"Ms Wang said she would even go so far as fulfilling some doctors’ “sexual desires” in order to “meet their needs” and persuade them to prescribe more drugs."

I wonder how that visit went?

Wang: If you prescribe more I will give you money

Dr: No thanks, that's corrupt.

Wang unbuttons her blouse to reveal her cleavage, "then maybe we could come to some 'other' arrangement"?

This has got me thinking. There's some porn director out there right now being paid to write and direct. All they need do is follow this Chinese story.



In other news, Chinese authorities have arrested a further 18 Glaxo employees, this on the back of the four Glaxo employees who were previously arrested by Chinese officials. No names have been released and both the authorities and Glaxo are remaining tight lipped.

Here's the Wang article.

Fid

Witty's Wok Emporium

If a picture paints a thousand words...

Click image to enlarge

Back story here

Bob Fiddaman

Witty Plays Down China Scandal

"...the company’s own investigations have found that the extent of the bribery scandal is significantly less than what the Chinese government contends." - Andrew Witty, GSK CEO

Trouble is escalating in China over the GlaxoSmithKline kickback scandal. Never fear though, GSK's CEO and former Zyban spin doctor, Andrew "all part of an era" Witty, is on hand to douse the flames.

The Chinese government have accused British pharmaceutical giant, GlaxoSmithKline, of paying almost $500 million in bribes, mainly to doctors who prescribed its products.

That's some allegation and one that has been denied robustly by GSK.

This coming on the back of Glaxo's $3billion fine in the US last year, a fine paid at the end of years of robust denial that they did anything wrong.

Hmmm, you see a pattern here?

China's Ministry of Public Security are alleging that the British giant siphoned an estimated $489 million in bribes through almost 700 travel agencies with the intention to influence doctors to prescribe more of their drugs, this practice is more commonly known as 'kickbacks'. Glaxo, it's alleged, also arranged for doctors to receive sexual services from prostitutes. Ooo er, Fried Tofu Curd Balls, anyone?

After initial denial Glaxo are now claiming that senior China executives acted outside of its “processes and controls” and broke Chinese law. Just Chinese law then?

Chinese authorities have arrested four GSK employees, namely; legal affairs director Zhao Hongyan, vice president and operations manager Liang Hong, human resources director Zhang Guowei, and business development manager Huang Hong. Hong having already gone on Chinese television and admitting to the crimes and explaining how the scheme worked, including the use of fake conferences and travel agencies to create receipts for services that were never performed. The surplus funds were allegedly then used to pay bribes.

GSK's CEO Andrew Witty, who last year played down the $3billion fine slapped on his company for kickbacks and promotion of drugs off-label, must be totally embarrassed by the current state of affairs at Glaxo.

Witty, now claims that the allegations appear to be true and feels.“personally deeply disappointing,”

Witty, of course, wouldn't be Witty if he didn't play down the allegations.

He claims that there are control mechanisms in place to prevent bribery and other forms of corruption, but that the methods these individuals used “would have been difficult to find using our controls.”

In other words GSK's control mechanisms simply don't work, a bit like the drugs they manufacture, huh?

Witty, using his much beloved spin, also claimed that he still believed GlaxoSmithKline controls are robust, and the company’s own investigations have found that the extent of the bribery scandal is significantly less than what the Chinese government contends. Well, they would Andrew wouldn't they. If Glaxo investigate Glaxo for crimes then Glaxo will be vindicated. It's akin to a serial killer investigating his own behaviour and concluding that although he went on a four year murdering spree it wasn't as bad as prosecution was alleging.

More on Witty's statement HERE

Fid

Advair Launch 2001: GSK's “Myth of Mild” Campaign

The Department of Justice website has uploaded video excerpts of GlaxoSmithKline's promotional push of Advair to its reps. The video excerpts, from Las Vegas, even show former Glaxo head, JP Garnier, get in on the act, relaying the message, “...it would be criminal to not put an asthmatic patient on Advair”. It's hard to know who or where this message originated from as 'JP', it seems, is quoting someone else.

Hmm, nice use of the word 'criminal', JP.

GSK's Advair is used to prevent asthma attacks, and to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [COPD] and the recent whistleblower suit, that GSK plead guilty to and paid a record $3 billion in fines, shows how they aggressively marketed it with promotional 'get togethers' as shown in the video  excerpts [below]

The whistleblower filings in the US Courts also name senior managers at GlaxoSmithKline for aggressively urging sales of Advair for forms of asthma that it was not indicated for, such as mild intermittent attacks, such as the senior manager telling the audience in the video, "The clinical data that supports Advair, you know you gotta just ask the simple question...what patient with asthma is not appropriate for Advair?" [Video around the 2 minute mark] whilst another tells the audience, "...there are people in this room who are going to make an ungodly amount of money selling Advair."


According to documents Glaxo even launched a “Myth of Mild” asthma campaign, its sole purpose, it seems, to target sufferers of mild asthma, even though Advair was not indicated for patients who suffered with mild asthma.


All Glaxo reps needed to do was to tell the doctors prescribing it. 



Documents also reveal that in 2004 Chris Viehbacher, former head of US pharmaceuticals at GSK, told investors at a meeting in London, “The real opportunity for us with Advair is that we can now convince physicians that there is no such thing as mild or severe asthma.” 


Amazing isn't it? And there was me thinking that pharmaceutical companies invented illnesses, not dismissed them!


Viehbacher is now Chief Executive Officer at Sanofi.


GSK's CEO, Andrew Witty, said in a statement about the record payout that “Today brings to resolution difficult, long-standing matters for (Glaxo). Whilst these originate in a different era for the company, they cannot and will not be ignored. On behalf of (Glaxo), I want to express our regret and reiterate that we have learnt from the mistakes that were made,” 


A different era?

In actual fact, and what the mainstream press seem to be missing here, is that Andrew Witty was the Vice President and General Manager of Marketing of Glaxo Wellcome Inc. [GlaxoWellcome and SmithKline Beecham merged in 2000 to become GlaxoSmithKline.] Some of his responsibilities included, strategy development, marketing execution and new product positioning. Witty and his team were awarded a Medical Marketing Association [MMA] award [Medical Marketer of the Year] in 1998. He also worked in the Company’s International New Products groups, both in the Respiratory and HIV/Infectious disease fields.

Two words - Marketing and Respiratory. Alarm bells anyone?


In a perverse twist of fate during Witty's rise to success he was actually a sales representative for the respiratory business!

I'm just left wondering if, whilst a rep for Glaxo, Witty offered incentives to doctors... or if he actually thought that was morally wrong. If he did then any talk of era's at GSK must land at his feet and the buck-passing blame game must stop.

Apart from Paxil [Seroxat] and Advair, GSK also violated the promotional terms of  Imitrex, Valtrex,  Lotronex and Lamictal.

GSK's corporate tagline is, "GlaxoSmithKline helps people to do more, feel better and live longer."

Can someone please hand me a vomit bag!

Related:

GSK - The Company With Great Ethics

GlaxoSmithKline - Pinsky, Bradshaw and Promises

GlaxoSmithKline's Perverse Olympic Games

Glaxo's Qui Tam Paxil Complaint




Fid

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