Novartis cooperating with South Korean authorities after raid
Korea’s Yohapnews reported that Novartis’ office had been raided by investigators from the Seoul Western District Prosecutors officer in response to suspicions the firm’s staff had been involved in the payment of rebates to local doctors.
The prosecutors told the publication they began the investigation “after judging that it might have been involved in handing out bribes to doctors for using their products.
Company officials are expected to be called in for questioning once an analysis into confiscated items is complete.
A spokesman for the Swiss drugmaker told us: “We can confirm that the offices of Novartis in Korea were visited by local authorities in relation to an investigation on Feb 22, 2016.
He added that: “Novartis is committed to high standards of ethical business conduct and regulatory compliance in all aspects of our work and we take any allegation of misconduct extremely seriously.
“Novartis is cooperating with the authorities as part of this investigation and cannot comment further at this time.”
