Glaxo employee named as chief suspect in China probe

Chinese authorities have accused GlaxoSmithKline's former China chief, Mark Reilly, as having ordering employees to commit bribery in order to boost drug sales.Ten months into its probe, China has for the first time made specific allegations against a GSK employee, with police having now passed the case to prosecutors after completing their investigation.Hunan Province police have alleged that Reilly, former head of operations in China, "pressed his sales teams to bribe hospitals, doctors and health institutions", helping to generate billions of yuan in "illegal revenue", according to local agency Xinhua. The case also involves a total of 46 suspects.Reilly and two other Chinese executives are also suspected of bribing drug industry officials and commerce departments of Beijing and Shanghai to escape investigation.The investigation found that GSK China "intentionally raised the price of its drugs in the Chinese market by declaring higher prices to Chinese customs", the agency reported.Officials alleged the company pushed up the prices of drugs in China by as much as seven times the price compared with other countries, in some cases.GSK is also facing investigations into similar allegations in Poland.Shares in the company were down 1.2% to 1,616p at 09:32 on Wednesday.OH