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17/12/2013
GSK Changes Sales Policies
Pharmaceuticals firm GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is to stop paying doctors to promote its products and will end individual targets for its sales force.
According to reports it is believed these changes are related to a corruption scandal in China earlier this year.
Chinese police claim that GSK had paid 3bn yuan - (£321m) to travel agencies and consultancies to be used to "bride" doctors.
GSK however, deny that the announced changes are related to the ongoing investigation in China, saying that they are being done in an effort to "improve transparency".
In a statement released on the company's website, chief executive Sir Andrew Witty said: “We believe that it is imperative that we continue to actively challenge our business model at every level to ensure we are responding to the needs of patients and meeting the wider expectations of society.
"Over the past five years, this has seen us take significant steps to increase access to medicines in developing countries and to be more transparent with our clinical trial data. We’ve also made changes to how we work with healthcare professionals.
"Building on this, today we are outlining a further set of measures to modernise our relationship with healthcare professionals. These are designed to bring greater clarity and confidence that whenever we talk to a doctor, nurse or other prescriber, it is patients’ interests that always come first.
"We recognise that we have an important role to play in providing doctors with information about our medicines, but this must be done clearly, transparently and without any perception of conflict of interest."
The statement can be read in full on the GSK website.
(MH/CD)
According to reports it is believed these changes are related to a corruption scandal in China earlier this year.
Chinese police claim that GSK had paid 3bn yuan - (£321m) to travel agencies and consultancies to be used to "bride" doctors.
GSK however, deny that the announced changes are related to the ongoing investigation in China, saying that they are being done in an effort to "improve transparency".
In a statement released on the company's website, chief executive Sir Andrew Witty said: “We believe that it is imperative that we continue to actively challenge our business model at every level to ensure we are responding to the needs of patients and meeting the wider expectations of society.
"Over the past five years, this has seen us take significant steps to increase access to medicines in developing countries and to be more transparent with our clinical trial data. We’ve also made changes to how we work with healthcare professionals.
"Building on this, today we are outlining a further set of measures to modernise our relationship with healthcare professionals. These are designed to bring greater clarity and confidence that whenever we talk to a doctor, nurse or other prescriber, it is patients’ interests that always come first.
"We recognise that we have an important role to play in providing doctors with information about our medicines, but this must be done clearly, transparently and without any perception of conflict of interest."
The statement can be read in full on the GSK website.
(MH/CD)
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