Botox patients in China might be frowning if they could after learning GlaxoSmithKline is investigating claims that its staff used improper tactics to market the muscle-freezing wrinkle-buster in the country.
Britain’s biggest drugmaker is looking into allegations made in The Wall Street Journal of staff handing doctors cash and other rewards for prescribing Botox, which GSK sells in China under an agreement with patent-holder Allergan. GSK said it had so far found no evidence of bribery or corruption.
GSK is already under investigation by Chinese police for unspecified “economic crimes” while potential price-fixing among drugmakers is the focus of a probe in Beijing.
A GSK spokesman said the company believed the allegations came from the same source, and that corruption claims had been without foundation.
