GlaxoSmithKline China scandal is probably the biggest controversy ever to hit the drug market industry.
According to CBC News, GlaxoSmithKline has been fined by a Chinese court what is now considered as the biggest penalty ever imposed by a court on a drug maker.
Court documents reveal that the GlaxoSmithKline China scandal has led to the fining of $492 million on Friday after it was discovered that the British multinational pharmaceutical company has been bribing doctors in China.
Briton Mark Reilly, the former China manager of the Brentford, London-headquartered drug maker, was sentenced to prison, along with four Chinese co-defendants. However, the sentencing was postponed for two to four years, as per media reports.
The Chinese court said that Reilly and the co-defendants have been granted leniency because they confessed.
The GlaxoSmithKline China scandal first made headlines in mid-2013, when it was found out that there had been a widespread of payments to doctors and hospitals by manufacturers of drugs and medical equipment.
GSK recently issued a statement saying that it would pay the fine and will immediately take action on the flaws cited by the Chinese court.
The embattled company also promises that it is going to change its incentive system to its employees from now on and reduce their direct engagement with health professionals.
"Reaching a conclusion in the investigation of our Chinese business is important, but this has been a deeply disappointing matter for GSK. We have and will continue to learn from this," CEO Sir Andrew Witty said in a statement.
Meanwhile, David Zweig, director of the Center on China's Transnational Relations at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology said that the GlaxoSmithKline China scandal isn't really that surprising since it's very difficult to seal deals in the said country.
"It's very hard to do business in the Chinese healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors without doing payoffs," Zweig told The New York Times as per a FiercePharma report. "Everyone else pays bribes. Glaxo just got caught."
On the other hand, GSK had said in previous reports that its employees actually acted without the consent of the higher-ups and that they have violated the company's policy in bribing Chinese doctors.
In December 2013, the British drug maker also announced that it would stop offering financial support to Chinese medical and health care professionals to promote its products.
The GlaxoSmithKline China scandal seems to be not the only controversy involving big drug makers. In July 2013, AstraZeneca - a British-Swedish company - revealed that some of its salespeople are being investigated by Chinese authorities.
China's biggest drug distributor, SinoPharm Group Ltd. is also facing a separate case since two of its former executives are being investigated for corruption.
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