La Tarcoteca

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viernes, 9 de mayo de 2014

Pharmaceuticals and corruption: the Glaxo Smith Kline planetary scandal. GSK

The Glaxo Smith Kline corporation is agaisnt the wall. The British pharmaceutical giant company is reaping corruption allegations around the world, tirelessly and the consequences are reflected in the financial results. ilfattoquotidiano it April 26, 2014


What is GSK
The corporation is a GSK is one of the so called Big Pharma es, a heavyweight in drug production, such as Augmentin, Seretide, Zantac or Zovirax. It is a leader in the biological studies, with thousands of staff scientists and regular published in the journal Science. Even though it is more know by their mafia methods.

Latest hits

Lebanon and Jordan April 2014, black market of drugs
On April 16, the Wall Street Journal (via TheGuardian ) writes that was in possession of an email from company personnel in stating that he bribed local doctors with abroad conferences that never took place and free drug samples that doctors could directly sold to patients in black. 200 people are charged. The company self defends by saying that the corporation is infinitely greater tham this spot and that these are isolated incidents.

Iraq in April 2014, infiltrated in the Ministry 
On 6th April a whistleblower informed about the shady business of GSK in the Middle East. Snitch reveals to the Wall Street Journal (via thetelegraph ) that the company  secretly recruit  Iraq Health Ministry executives as Sales Reps. 16 doctors and pharmacists working for the government.  Also speak about payment of travel expenses to international conferences, and  substantial bribes offers to doctors who prescribed their products. As expected, GSK wins contract with the Iraqi Ministry of Health for the provision of the Rotarix vaccine against gastroenteritis. Ministry officials with their whole families go on vacation in Lebanon with the company expense payments.

China 2013, productivity rate targets
In July 2013, a scandal broke out in China es. Here the British multinational spent 320 million pounds, about $ 480 million, to purchase medical class with money, travel and sexual favors.

One of its four executives arrested in July, director of business development, Hong Huang admitted to police that the GSK headquater in the UK had set them rhythms annual sales growth of up to 25 percent, between 7 and 8 percentage points above the industry average in China points. To achieve these results the company linking wages to turnover of each employee, so that he who does not meet the objectives could lose thousands of yuan a month. elEconomista es

Poland 2010-2012 , generic prescribing and training programs and mobbing
An investigation in datail by the BBC  program Panorama revealed that in Poland the regional manager of Glaxo Smith Kline and 11 doctors are under investigation for alleged bribery in the white robes gave a poke with prescription of anti asthmathic Seretide.

The incident took place four years ago and the complaint is against a former representative of the company, Jarek Wisniewiski. Just at this period (2010-2012) the British pharmaceutical giant said to be engaged in a national training program on asthma for doctors. But Wisniewiski denies: the money  intented to the program is actually use to pay doctors assured complacent increase medication prescriptions. Speaking to the BBC the ex employee expresses blunt: "At the meeting said I paid for the course and needed more  Seretide recipes, then realized exactly why I was paying".

Another former GSK representative who prefers to remain anonymous, said that on one hand the company pays the money to doctors to attend conferences and courses that does not exist and moreover physicians increase sales of the drug. A quid pro quo bluntly. Wisniewiski confirms: "hundred pounds should produce a hundred new recipes product."

Add to it, Wisniewiski not acted of his own accord: the dirty tricks employed was imparted by the regional manager. In fact, according to the unease with the situation, he was marginalized and threatened with dismiss by the regional heads of the company. GSK admits retaliated and punished its employee, mobbing, in 2011. A report published in the States Multinational website showed that in 2013 only 161 violations of law committed by staff in the departments of Political Marketing and sales and 113 complaints. The result was 48 people have been fired or left their jobs "voluntarily".


United States 2012 , overprescribing and false studies

The record bill is in the United States : in 2012, the company pays $ 3,000 million for bribing doctors in exchange for prescribing antidepressants by unauthorized indications. In addition GSK also pleaded guilty to failing to take into account studies showing the ineffectiveness of some of its drugs.

Fraud concerns especially three products.
One is the Paxil, GlaxoSmithKline which " sold " falsely as an antidepressant for children, as it had never been approved as such by the health authorities.
Another is the Avandia, an antidiabetes sold without warning of the risk of certain side effects.
And the third is the Wellbutrin, a drug to treat severe depression GSK sell as a solution to "be thinner or have more sex," said Carmen Ortiz, Massachusetts Attorney . Peru21 es

Corporative Mafia strategy
With the media on their side of GSK 's strategy is to pretend the charges are isolate and disengage from those involved, and especially minimizing the problem of removing suspicion located in headqater in London.

To this a few days ago the corporation sends new managers to ensure that sales are made in a proper way trying to clean the face, as if the mafia practice depended solely by individual representatives of global orders and not from the top of the organization .

In December 2013, Andrew Witty, CEO of GSK, was interviewed by the New York Times once again repeated that his company now promises act of goodwill and not give more money under the table to physicians. But the damage is done and no one can guarantee they will not be repeated .

Corporations only see numbers where is people, money numbers. If the human ideal corporation defends is a medicated person, an ill person, have to rethink what is a human.

It is our responsibility to find the way to apply the medical knowledge in a human way, as corporation just treat human as cattle. Self-managed health!

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