A whistleblower emailed the company’s Middle East operations in 2012, reports the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), saying that it appeared GSK practices violated the U.K. Bribery Act and the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
In the email, the whistleblower said that GSK hired 16 Iraqi government physicians and pharmacists to be sales representatives for the company.
The email said that GSK paid for the medical professionals to attend international conferences and to promote the company’s drugs in lectures. The whistleblower also said an emergency room physician allegedly prescribed GSK products that were not in stock at the hospital’s pharmacy even though a competitor's brand was available.
A spokesperson for GSK said the company started its investigations into Iraq as soon as the allegations arose, and is continuing the probe.
“We have zero tolerance for unethical or illegal behavior. We employ fewer than 60 people in Iraq in our pharmaceutical operation and these allegations relate to a small number of individuals in the country,” the spokesperson told the WSJ.
This probe come after July corruption claims from Chinese authorities, who, according to the Independent, said that GSK spent more than US$ 480 million bribing doctors and officials to push their drugs.
The pharmaceutical company was also accused of offering sex workers as “gifts” in the Chinese corruption case.
As part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act, the US Securities and Exchange Commission established a whistle-blowing program providing cash incentives for employees who report misconduct. According to the WSJ, whistleblowers can net as much as 30 percent of recovered funds.
The Justice Department has been investigating GSK since 2011 as part of an industry-wide pharmaceutical company bribery probe. The WSJ says it is not clear whether the China or Iraq allegations are specifically being investigated.
