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By Ben Hirschler
LONDON, April 27 (Reuters) - It has been one of thepharmaceutical industry's most closely watched experiments: doesending payments to doctors undermine drug sales?
GlaxoSmithKline, the British drugmaker, believes ithas proved that raising the ethical bar on marketing practicesdoesn't necessarily reduce competitiveness.
Chief Executive Andrew Witty said better-than-expected firstquarter results on Wednesday coincided with a period where theentire group had operated under a new policy that bans paymentsto doctors who speak on behalf of GSK.
"It convinces us that the moves we've made are both good forour business and also good for improving the reputation of theindustry," Witty told reporters.
GSK, which was fined nearly $500 million in 2014 for bribingdoctors in China, is the first drug company to implement such abroad clampdown on payments to prescribers and competitors arewatching closely to assess the commercial fallout.
In China, GSK's business is still struggling, with salesdown 28 percent in the first quarter, due to disposals of someproducts and lower prices, but Witty said he expected GSK toreturn to growth in China in the second half of 2016.
(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
