False steps in China
, September 18, 2013
An employee walks inside a GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) office in Shanghai, in this file picture. A crackdown on corruption in China's pharmaceutical sector has hurt sales at international and local firms, with many doctors at Chinese hospitals refusing to see drug representatives for fear of being caught up in the widening scandal. Britain's GlaxoSmithKline, the group at the centre of the furore, has suffered the most. Industry insiders expect its China drug sales growth to slow sharply or even reverse in the third quarter after a 14 percent year-on-year rise in the three months to end-June. But GSK - accused by Chinese police in July of using travel agencies as intermediaries to make illegal payments to doctors - is not alone, and a number of companies say their China sales in the second half of the year may take a substantial hit. - Reuters
