China probes French drugmaker Sanofi for bribery claims

It is Alleged that staff at France-based pharmaceutical giant Sanofi paid over $270,000 as bribes to some 500 Chinese doctors

China has set up a joint investigation team to probe allegations that staff at France-based pharmaceutical giant Sanofi paid over $270,000 as bribes to some 500 Chinese doctors.

An anonymous whistleblower told Guangzhou-based 21st Century Business Herald that Sanofi staff paid bribes totalling 1.69 million yuan ($274,000) to 503 doctors at 79 hospitals in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hangzhou in late 2007 as "research grants".

The Beijing municipal health bureau will coordinate with the disciplinary authorities to investigate the case, bureau officials told state-run new agency Xinhua today.

Defining the boundary between a "clinical research grant" and bribery is key to the case, medical experts said. The health bureau currently does not have much information in this area.

The investigation team will probe if clinical research programmes had a list of patient names and medical reports, officials said.

Hospitals named in the media report, including Peking Union Medical College Hospital in Beijing, have yet to comment.

In response, Sanofi said in a statement that it took the claim "very seriously" and has begun relevant procedures to investigate the allegations.

The National Health and Family Planning Commission will step up its efforts to curb commercial bribery in the pharmaceutical industry and health service sector, commission spokesman Deng Haihua told a press conference yesterday.

The commission plans to blacklist pharmaceutical companies and individuals involved in bribery.

This is the second case in China involving multinational drug companies.

Earlier, British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline was investigated for suspected bribery and tax-related offences by Chinese authorities.