An interesting start to 2014

Happy New Year to all our readers and may you all be healthy, wealthy and wise in 2014!

Looking back on 2013 it is clear that many companies and individuals have encountered significant difficulties with their compliance programmes.  Some of these difficulties have led to large fines for companies and individuals and also to imprisonment for a few executives of both large and small companies.  Regulators and other authorities around the world are no longer focused just on the “big boys”; smaller companies have also felt the full force of the regulators in recent months.

In just the first two weeks of 2014, one company has entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the US government; another has agreed to pay a fine of around $40m to settle kickback allegations; Japan has filed a criminal complaint against another pharmaceutical company; China has detained a former executive of a pharmaceutical company; and an Indian manufacturing plant has been issued with an FDA notice of potential failures of Good Manufacturing Practices.  It is, therefore, our prediction that global regulators will continue to pursue companies and individuals who fail to comply, with potentially serious consequences throughout 2014.

Given this context, is your compliance programme robust enough?  Are you managing your risks effectively?  If you’re not sure whether or not you are doing enough of the right things, get in touch with us for practical help to get you on the right track.

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