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The government awards contracts to companies with histories of misconduct such as contract fraud and environmental, ethics, and labor violations. In the absence of a centralized federal database listing instances of misconduct, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is providing such data. We believe that it will lead to improved contracting decisions and public access to information about how the government spends hundreds of billions of taxpayer money each year on goods and services. Report an instance of misconduct »

GlaxoSmithKline

Argentina Vaccine Trials Fine

Date: 01/11/2012 (Date of GSK Public Statement)

Misconduct Type: Health

Enforcement Agency: International

Contracting Party: None

Court Type: N/A

Amount: $93,000

Disposition: Fine

Synopsis: The government of Argentina fined GlaxoSmithKline Argentina Laboratories Company 400,000 pesos (approx. US$93,000) for its handling of vaccine trials in Mendoza, Argentina in 2007 and 2008. According to media accounts, a government investigation found Glaxo and two trial investigators failed to heed proper informed consent procedures in a study called Protocol Compas, which tested the efficacy of the Synflorix pediatric pneumonia vaccine. GSK admitted in a January 2012 public statement that there were “some administrative irregularities in the process of obtaining informed consent from a small proportion of patients in the study.”