In a landmark case, the Rawalpindi Drug Court has sentenced the CEO and three employees of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to imprisonment and imposed substantial fines for distributing substandard medicine. This decision is one of the first in Pakistan’s history.
The court’s action followed a complaint by the Provincial Inspector of Drugs in Tehsil Hasan Abdal, who reported that the Drug Testing Laboratory in Rawalpindi found a substandard 2018 sample of the drug Septran, manufactured by GSK.
Despite GSK’s global reputation and a net worth of approximately $82.38 billion, the court noted that the company had failed to recall the drug or investigate its substandard production. The CEO received a sentence to be held in court until adjournment and fined Rs4.7 million, with the potential for three months of additional imprisonment if the fine is unpaid.
The production manager, quality control manager, and warrantor were each sentenced to two years in prison and fined Rs600,000, facing an extra six months in prison if they failed to pay.
GSK has denied wrongdoing and plans to appeal the decision. GSK Secretary Agha Salman Taimur, in a communication to the Pakistan Stock Exchange, expressed the company’s intent to challenge the verdict.
The judgment has sparked a significant debate among the pharmaceutical sector and health professionals. Noor Muhammad Mahar, President of the Pakistan Drug Lawyers Forum, critiqued the decision, noting that the medicine’s molecules were correct, but the dissolution time during testing did not meet standards. He expressed concerns that the harsh judgment could lead to calls for softening the Drug Act’s penalties.
This ruling underscores the judiciary’s role in regulating pharmaceutical standards and signals potential shifts in how drug regulation offenses are adjudicated in Pakistan.
