An Embarassed Glaxo Spanks Two Key Executives
23 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // August 13th, 2010 // 8:15 am
File this under ‘what were they thinking?’ Two years ago, Glaxo ponied up $720 million to buy Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, which is famous for trying to develop medicines based on a chemical in red wine known as resveratol. This generated intense interest because it may have an effect on aging - you know, the fountain of youth (back story). The science has since been questioned, but meanwhile, two key Sirtris execs assumed important roles within Glaxo’s hiearchy - Michelle Dipp became senior vp of Glaxo’s Center of Excellence for External Drug Discovery and Christoph Westphal now heads SR One, a venture capital unit.
As it turns out, this dynamic duo had joined a non-profit called the Healthy Lifespan Institute to sell resveratrol supplements online, as Xconomy reported yesterday. A Glaxo spokeswoman says the drugmaker was aware of “their involvement” and there is an understanding their moonlighting is “unrelated” to their work at Glaxo.
But here’s the kicker: Glaxo didn’t know about the online sales. A Glaxo spokeswoman writes us: “Until today, Glaxo was not aware that the Health Lifespan Institute was selling a resveratrol formulation on the Internet.” And so, the drugmaker has “instructed” Dipp and Westphal to “cease their association with this activity.” Consequently, the pair will also resign from the non-profit board. This latest twist was first reported by TheStreet.
The spokeswoman adds that the formulation of resveratrol sold by the non-profit is not identical to the one Glaxo has been testing, an effort to reassure investors that its research was not being undermined by two of its own executives. Nonetheless, this is an interesting transgression. The Glaxo spokeswoman declined further comment, but one wonders how this will further play out among Glaxo management. You know, level of trust and proper judgment come to mind. What do you think? vote in the poll and then tell us whether Glaxo handled this correctly.
Were Dipp and Westphal Punished Appropriately?
- No (85%, 168 Votes)
- Yes (18%, 35 Votes)
Total Voters: 198
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Salient point
I know what happened with the CEO at Hewlett Packard was not trivial, but since he left over $20K of misused expenses a week ago their company has lost $5 bil in market cap.
This involves marketing a compound that GSK is itself developing, & taking advantage of lax laws regarding supplements to do so. It seems more egregious than the HP matter, at least from a shareholder POV, & yet these people still are employed by GSK. I don’t get it.
harpy
that’s because H-P’s embarassment over its boardroom scandal a few years ago actually struck a cord in the company and impelled them to try to restore their reputation. Hurd was let go in part because he violated H-P’s code of conduct.
GSK, on the other hand, obviously recognized the innate talent for chicanery in these two young executives and realized they could make more money by harnessing their efforts and keeping them in the fold.
Just an Observer
It was rather interesting to see that at least one them was hired for the position without much of experience for the role to begin with. Now this…
Yet both seem to have their jobs intact at GSK….hmmm….what is going on over there ????
Batman
Maybe the exec can get a modeling job. She seems more qualified for that. This purchase was a complete scam from the beginning and to call it an outright cover-up is understating the obvious.
Both deserve to be canned. This product was junk science from the beginning as they were looking at ghost images and anyone with basic science background knew it. How much did those involved in Sirtris make on this scam? Oh, that is right….tons…
It is what it is.
Scam City
Former Pharma Executive
Proves again that GSK management is totally worthless. How can they put up with these two is besides me.
pharmavet
I always thought that Oxford University produced scholars, not “Dipps”. On the other hand, perhaps Mistress Michelle might enjoy a spanking.
pharmavet
Resveratrol is nothing more than the latest in a long line of pharmaceutical quackery. Read up on the infamous cancer curing drug, “Krebiozen”, and you’ll get the picture.
http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/Cancer/krebiozen.html
Currituck
GSK has no office in Boston. How do these 2 work a full day AND run a competing business? This smells. I wonder if this is why my shares suck so badly.
Pharmaworker
These two should be canned for inappropriate use of corporate resources, especially since that activity brings them, and not the shareholders, financial gain. If they don’t think their normal GSK salaries are enough to sustain them, they have their egos too far up in the clouds
stone
Glaxo, under the direction of Richard Sykes, was an exceptionally innovative company coming out with extraordinary drugs such as Augmentin. After the merger with SK (not a bad company but certainly not a Glaxo), Sykes –a world class microbiologist– got replaced by greedy MBAs who only looked at quartely earnings (or so it seems). Now they’ve not nothing but tricks and trouble. Bring back good management, clean house and start doing good science again.
Nutraceuticals –embarrassing. But I can’t imagine upper management didn’t know what these two unethical employees were doing and weren’t getting something out of it, if only publicity for a coming product.
likeitis
Just proves the point that everyone has been making repeatedly recently; GSK execs have their HUTAs, totally and completely.
Curituck: stay with it long enough to attend the next AGM and vote them all O-U-T!
harpy
I always thought that Oxford University produced scholars, not “Dipps”. On the other hand, perhaps Mistress Michelle might enjoy a spanking.
congratulations, pharmavet, on proving once again what a sexist pig you are.
Christopher
Flakiness of resveratrol and the Sirtris purchase notwithstanding these two absolutely would have known that their activities were competitive to their employment with GSK. They would have seen enough employment contracts to have known what is expected of a senior exec. Others would have been shown the door for less.
pharmavet
Congratulations, Harpy. I never could figure out how to use italics on this site. Maybe you could instruct us so that we could add the emphasis that you seem to relish when you chastise those on this site who disagree with you.
harpy
sure pharmavet. it’s basic HTML.
for italics: at the beginning of the word or sentence and then to close it (without the spaces, of course. I had to put those in or else it would have simply italicized). if you don’t close it the rest of whatever you say will also be in italics. replacing the “i” with a “b” will make it bold.
inserting links is a wee bit trickier, but I think you can do it. the command is
then the words you want to form the link, and then the closer. with this one you need the space in the “a href” but no other spaces.
and, to your other point, it was not a case of disagreement, but your misogyny that offended me. you consistently criticize and demean women on this site - from derogatory comments about how female reps dress to correcting a woman’s use of a mild swear word in her comment. in this case, it was the smarmy way you said she would “enjoy a spanking.” I don’t know why you think it would be appropriate to say that on what you called a “family friendly site” unless humiliating and demeaning women (not to mention the sexual innuendo) is common in your family. it cetainly isn’t in mine. and, if you choose to protest that you were only playing off the words in the headline, well, perhaps next time you’ll mention how much the gentleman in the article (did you see him? there was a guy involved too) might also enjoy a spanking. since that is what I found most offensive I won’t comment on your questioning her intelligence.
but you are correct in that your personal failings are your own and if no one else objects to your boorish behavior I shall keep my thoughts to myself.
harpy
ha! tripped up on my HTML. it is powerful stuff. let’s try again:
these brackets at the beginning of the word. if you want italics, put an “i” in there. for bold a “b”
to close it after the word you want to emphasize. again you need the “i” or “b” after the backslash
the command for a link is “a href=URL” this would go inside the first set of brackets. to close it it’s simply
harpy
d’oh! this is harder than it seems. the brackets are these “” at the beginning of the word.
“”
closing the “a href” you just use an “a”
now put my last three comments together and you too can groan at your HTML skillz.
harpy
good grief. I give up. the brackets are “less than” and “greater than” above the comma and period on the keyboard.
pharmavet
Harpy you are correct. I should not have excused Mr. Westphal from punishment. Perhaps something more than a mere spanking might work, considering that yours truly endured the sting of the teacher’s paddle on many occasions (yes, corporal punishment in most schools was legal back then).
I’m reminded of Captain Bligh’s admonition to First Lieutenant Fletcher Christian regarding the usefulness of flogging an insubordinate in the movie “Mutiny on the Bounty”:
“Now don’t mistake me. I’m not advising cruelty or brutality with no purpose. My point is that cruelty with purpose is not cruelty - it’s efficiency. Then a man will never disobey once he’s watched his mate’s backbone laid bare. He’ll see the flesh jump, hear the whistle of the whip for the rest of his life.
Hope you’ll agree that this would be sufficient for Mr. Westphal.
Stephany
Interesting discussion here.
kingmaker
I believe this behavior warrants termination.
Pharma Conduct Guy
Hey Harpy, I hope this helps…
Links
<a href=”http://pharmalot.com”>Welcome to Pharmalot</a> = Welcome to Pharmalot
Bold
I only <b>want a portion to be bold</b>. = I only want a portion to be bold.
Italics
This is <i>an example of italics</i>. = This is an example of italics.
Underline
This is <u>an example of underlining</u>. = This is an example of underlining.
mike j
Nothing really THAT unusual in that they weren’t immediately canned. This type of stuff baffled me- until I started working in pharma/corporate America. It’s all about “who knows you”. Obviously, someone important “knows them”. And btw, your job level matters as well. A much, much lower level employee would have been fired- and probably by one of these two social pillars. Go figure. Business as usual.