GSK’s head of emerging markets, Abbas Hussain, made the admission in a statement today.
“Certain senior executives of GSK China, who know our systems well, appear to have acted outside of our processes and controls, which breaches Chinese law,” he said.
The Chinese police have arrested four senior GSK executives as part of the investigation. The Chinese authorities are investigating claims that GSK paid up to 3 billion yuan ($489 million) to doctors using travel agencies as a mask for the payments.
GSK has promised to “root out corruption wherever it exists” and to bring down the cost of drugs in China in compensation.
Culture of payments
Mr Hussain said that medicine would become cheaper for Chinese customers as GSK changes its “operational model” in the country.
“Savings made as a result of proposed changes to our operational model will be passed on in the form of price reductions, ensuring our medicines are more affordable to Chinese patients.”
The Chinese government crackdown on corruption and bribery has triggered investigations into several pharmaceutical companies, including AstraZeneca.
China has been known for a culture in which drug companies make payments to doctors, who rely on these rewards for writing prescriptions to supplement their meagre salaries.
Those practices, however, are increasingly coming under fire, with a crackdown on corruption under President Xi Jinping, leaving companies struggling to toe the line while not losing business in a highly competitive market.