After years of seeing its reputation suffer for a series of gaffes, GlaxoSmithKline is making a serious bid to gain some respect for being a good corporate citizen.
In a new corporate responsibility statement, Glaxo announced that it will post all its drug research on its clinical study register--including observational studies and meta-analysis--within 18 months of completion. Glaxo and other big pharma companies have been harshly criticized for hiding any data that didn't shed a positive light on the drugs it had on the market or in development. Just last year Glaxo suffered a PR disaster for delaying the release of a meta-analysis on the danger Paxil (Seroxat) posed to children. And before that came a thrashing for its handling of a meta-analysis related to the diabetes drug Avandia.
Glaxo also announced that it is contributing 800 current and pending patents to an effort to spur new research work for neglected diseases. Glaxo's Andrew Witty said weeks ago that he wanted all the pharma companies to chip in. And Witty announced that Glaxo was moving to cap the price of drugs in underdeveloped nations at 25 percent of the price fetched in developed countries, so long as that price covered the cost of production.
"We recognize that GSK has unique and privileged capabilities," said Witty. "Continually strengthening our contract with society is vitally important and this is why we are fully committed to operating to the highest ethical standards."
- here's GSK's release
- check out the article from the Financial Times
- read the report from Hays Pharma