ISLAMABAD: Drug court in Rawalpindi re-wrote history by awarding imprisonment and heavy fines to the CEO and other employees of a multinational pharma company in a case involving Septran tablet that was found to be ‘substandard’.
According to media report the judgement termed harsh by the industry was given to the CEO and 3 others of a leading multinational company namely, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), a very well reputed and credible company. As per company’s secretary, the company plans to challenge the judgement as reported in the daily Dawn of 25th April, 2024. The employees of the company were charge-sheeted in 2023 but they pleaded not guilty.
The case started in 2018, when a drug inspector, took a sample of tablet Septran, batch number HSBDS, manufactured by GSK and sent to Drug Testing Laboratory Rawalpindi, which had declared the drug substandard.
The reason for the judgement alleged that the company continued to sell the tablets and held no inquiry to ascertain the reasons of manufacturing of the substandard drug.
The court found the company’s CEO, production manager, quality control manager and warrantor guilty. The CEO was awarded imprisonment until the rising of the court and an overall fine of Rs4.7 million or three months in prison if she fails to pay the fine.
The three others have each been awarded two years in prison and a fine of Rs600,000 or additional six months each in case of failure to pay the fines.
Being a listed company, the company denies any wrongdoings on behalf of its officers, in a letter to the Pakistan Stock Exchange and also challenge the aforementioned judgment before the appellate forum.”