PARIS (Reuters) - French drugmaker Sanofi (PA:SASY) said it had informed U.S. authorities of allegations of improper payments by its employees to healthcare professionals in East Africa and the Middle East, in the latest of a string of bribery claims embarrassing the pharmaceutical industry.
Sanofi hired a law firm to investigate the claims after it received anonymous allegations that wrongdoing occurred between 2007 and 2012, the Paris-listed company said in a statement late on Monday in reaction to a Wall Street Journal report.
"The investigation is still ongoing and is expected to take some time given that the allegations date back seven years. At this stage, it is too early to draw conclusions," Sanofi said, adding it was committed to maintaining the highest ethical standards wherever it does business.
Among the allegations are that Sanofi employees made improper payments to doctors in Kenya and other East African countries by handing out perks encouraging doctors to prescribe Sanofi drugs, the WSJ reported on its website, citing e-mails from a whistleblower.
Sanofi said it had notified the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of the claims, that it took these seriously and that it would cooperate with any potential review.
The allegations follow a string of bribery claims over the past year in the industry that have mainly centred on Britain's GlaxoSmithKline (L:GSK) and its sales practices in China.
GSK was fined $489 million (£304 million) by Chinese authorities for bribery last month and is still under investigation by U.S. and British watchdogs. In addition to the high-profile Chinese case, GSK has been accused of corrupt practices in Poland, Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon.
U.S. authorities offer cash incentives for whistleblowers to report corporate malpractice by awarding them up to 30 percent of any sum collected if new information provided leads to the recovery of investor money over $1 million.
(Reporting by Natalie Huet; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)