July 11^th, Ministry of Public Security of China announced they organized public security units from Changsha, Shanghai and Zhengzhou to detain four senior GlaxoSmithKline Plc executives on suspicion of economic crimes involving 3 billion yuan ($489 million) of spurious travel and meeting expenses, and receiving sexual favors. The four senior executives are Zhao Hongyan, Liang Hong, Huang Hong and Zhang Guowei.

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July 15th, GSK issued English and Chinese statements on its English and Chinese Official Website in response to the ongoing investigations by government authorities in China.

The statement is as follows:

We are deeply concerned and disappointed by these serious allegations of fraudulent behavior and ethical misconduct by certain individuals at the company and third-party agencies. Such behavior would be a clear breach of GSK's systems, governance procedures, values and standards. GSK has zero tolerance for any behavior of this nature.

GSK shares the desire of the Chinese authorities to root out corruption. These allegations are shameful and we regret this has occurred.

We will cooperate fully with the Chinese authorities in the investigation of these new allegations. We will take all necessary action required by the outcome of this investigation.

In the meantime, we are taking a number of immediate actions. We are reviewing all third party agency relationships. We have put an immediate stop on the use of travel agencies that have been identified so far in this investigation and we are conducting a thorough review of all historic transactions related to travel agency use. We also intend to conduct a rigorous review of our compliance procedures in China.

GSK fully respects the laws and regulations in China and expects all staff to abide by them.

We also fully support the efforts of the Chinese authorities in their reforms of the medical sector and stand ready to work with them to make the necessary changes for the benefit of patients in China.