27 May 2014 The Director of the SFO has opened a criminal investigation into the commercial practices of GlaxoSmithKline plc and its subsidiaries.
Whistleblowers are valuable sources of information to the SFO in its cases. We welcome approaches from anyone with inside information on all our cases including this one - we can be contacted through our secure and confidential reporting channel, which can be accessed via the SFO website.
The SFO may want to investigate the British drug regulator, The MHRA, too. It was they who, after a four-year investigation of GlaxoSmithKline, decided to let Glaxo off with a warning letter. No criminal charges were brought against GSK...even after the MHRA learned during their investigation that GSK had knowingly withheld safety data regarding children taking the antidepressant Seroxat [Known as Paxil in the US]
The MHRA's four year investigation into GlaxoSmithKline failed on a catastrophic level.All the SFO need to do is request disclosure from GSK. Emails, documents and, more importantly, the notes taken by GSK's pharmaceutical reps during their visits to doctors and psychiatrists. Did Glaxo's UK reps offer the same incentives to British doctors as GSK's American, Chinese, Polish and Iraqi reps did?
Once they have these in their possession then I'm sure they will be able to retrace who said what and who they said it to.
The MHRA should have requested the same documents but why would they? They rely on pharmaceutical money, in fact, they are fully funded by the pharmaceutical industry.
No stone unturned is the order of the day here.The SFO will, no doubt, face tough opposition from the current UK government. Deals may be struck given that Glaxo's chairman, Andrew Witty, and the current Prime Minister,David Cameron, are friends and business acquaintances.
On the 29th May the following request was sent to the MHRA.
Still no reply nearly two months later !!!!
Still no official statement saying that the new MHRA chief is clean!!!
Dear MHRA
Please can you confirm that Dr Hudson is no way connected with the Serious Criminal Fraud investigation into GSK
I note that he was previously part of the Seroxat and Avandia team at GSK, two of the most notoriously dangerous, unsafe, and controversial drugs of the past decade.
If there is a chance that he might be involved in anyway, then surely as head of a major Public agency he should be suspended until the investigation is completed
Kind regards
JH (name supplied)
