Legal troubles appear to be mounting for GlaxoSmithKline in China where the drug giant recently fired a scientist at its China R&D site after an internal investigation found that data in a research paper was misrepresented and should be retracted. A whistle-blower also claimed that corruption and bribery had occurred in China.

News reports on Monday in China said police are probing the drug giant for alleged “economic crimes.”

“Chinese police have detained employees of British pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline in Beijing, Shanghai and Changsha, following allegations of data fraud and bribery in the multinational’s mainland operations,” the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong reported.

A statement provided to state media and cited by the wire service AFP said senior management at GSK China are being investigated.

“The exact nature of the allegations was not specified by Changsha police,” AFP reported. “But authorities typically use the phrase ‘economic crimes’ when referring to corruption.”

A GSK (NYSE: GSK) spokesperson contacted by AFP declined comment. 

However, in London, a GSK spokesperson told The Telegraph that the firm is “aware of the investigation” and is “cooperating” with Chinese authorities. “The precise nature of the investigation is unclear,” he told the newspaper. 

“Internet postings, which could not be confirmed, said more than 10 police in plainclothes entered the GSK office in Shanghai last Thursday and seized account books,” AFP added. 

The South China Posted reported that “police seized several people at GSK’s Shanghai office, including a senior foreign finance executive.”

GSK, which operates its North American headquarters in RTP, has said that it conducted an internal investigation and found no evidence of bribery involving its business in China.

Last month GSK fired a scientist at its China R&D site after an internal investigation found that data in a research paper was misrepresented and should be retracted.

A whistle-blower had claimed that corruption and bribery had also occurred in China.

The Wall Street Journal reported that an anonymous tipster made allegations that Glaxo’s sales staff in China was involved in widespread bribery of doctors to prescribe medication, in some cases for unauthorized uses, between 2004 and 2010.

“Glaxo takes all whistle-blowing complaints seriously and will investigate any allegation,” the London-based company said in a statement today. “Over the last four months, we have used significant resources to thoroughly investigate each and every claim from this single, anonymous source and have found no evidence of corruption or bribery in our China business.”

The report comes amid efforts to repair any damage to its reputation after GSK agreed last year to pay $3 billion to settle allegations that it illegally promoted prescription drugs and failed to report safety data in the U.S. Glaxo changed incentive compensation programs for U.S. sales representatives in 2011, eliminating the link between sales goals and bonuses.

In the research paper case, a second individual has submitted his resignation and three others have been placed on administrative leave, pending a final review, GSK reported earlier this week. 

The information from GSK’s China research center appeared in the article “Crucial role of interleukin-7 in T helper type 17 survival and expansion in autoimmune disease,” which was published in Nature Medicine in 2010. GSK said its internal inquiry was sparked after it it “recently became aware of allegations of misrepresentation of data” in the research paper written by scientists as its China research center.

“The integrity of our research is critical to our work and when these allegations came to light we immediately contacted the journal to tell them that we were taking the charges seriously and would be investigating thoroughly,” GSK said in a statement.

The data in question was from a published study regarding early stage, preclinical research. No patients were directly involved.
GSK said that it has shared its conclusion with Nature Medicine that certain information was misrepresented and the paper should be retracted. GSK said it has asked the authors to sign a statement acknowledging that data was misrepresented as part of Nature Medicine’s procedure for a retraction. In addition to firing one scientist, GSK said a second person has submitted his resignation and three others have been placed on administrative leave, pending a final review.

The pharmaceutical news blog Pharmalot, which reported the internal investigation last week, confirmed that the dismissed scientist is Jingwu Zang, one of the listed author’s of the research paper. GSK told Pharmalot that his responsibilities have been assigned to others at the R&D site.

[GSK ARCHIVE: Check out more than a decade of GSK stories as reported in WRALTechWire.]