GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to pay $105m to more than 40 US states to settle allegations of unlawful marketing, ending a long saga in which the UK company was accused of providing lavish incentives for salesmen and doctors to promote its drugs for unauthorised purposes.
The settlement involves largely the same allegations that led GSK to pay a record $3bn to the US federal government in 2012 after the Department of Justice revealed details of how the company entertained doctors in Hawaii and hosted sales conferences in Las Vegas to encourage unapproved uses for its drugs.
The settlement, with 44 states including California, New York and Florida, comes a week after the UK’s Serious Fraud Office said it had opened an investigation into GSK following Chinese allegations of “massive and systemic bribery” by the company.