Britain’s biggest drug maker GlaxoSmithKline has appointed one of its top European executives as the new chief of its China operations. Herve Gisserot, senior vice-president for Europe, will replace Mark Reilly as general manager of China operations. The reshuffle comes in the wake of a criminal probe by China’s Ministry of Public Security, which has accused GSK executives of routing $489 million in bribes to doctors, hospitals, government officials and pharmaceutical industry associations as part of a scheme to raise drug prices in the country. It said an investigation in three of the country’s biggest cities, Shanghai, Changsha and Zhengzhou, had found that GSK tried to increase medicine prices by paying bribes. GSK has also admitted that some Chinese executives appeared to have broken the law but CEO Andrew Witty said that their head office had no prior knowledge about the wrongdoing. The claims could be a major blow for the FTSE 100 drugs giant, which has been pushing its Chinese business for major growth as key medicines fall out of patent in the West. GSK earned £875 million from China in 2012, and has five manufacturing plants in the country.
