By Li Hongmei

Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, one of the world's biggest insulin producers, has been accused of systematically bribing physicians and hospitals in Shanghai to promote the sales of two of its insulin products, according to media reports.

The news has raised the number of foreign pharmaceutical giants accused of indulging in corrupt practices to promote sales in China to four, with the others being Britain's GlaxoSmithKline, France's Sanofi-Aventis and the Swiss firm Novartis.

According to Lilly's 2012 budget plan, the company had allocated 9.5 million yuan (US$1.5 million) to promote two of its insulin lispro injections, marketed under the name Humalog.

The fund was used specifically to sponsor sales-oriented international, national and district-level medical conferences. About 2.5 million yuan (US$408,000) from the fund was used to target the pharmaceutical market in Shanghai.

Wang Wei, a former executive at Lilly, released that another fund used to bribe physicians in Shanghai for recommending Humalog to patients was estimated to be about 30 million yuan (US$5 million).

The practice was common in the company, and mirrored practices carried out by competing firm GlaxoSmithKline, he added. Lilly said in a statement that the company will look into the matter, adding that the accusations were not in keeping with its company policy or the way it trained its employees.

Wang said that Lilly's major competitor in China was Denmark's Novo Nordisk, the world's biggest insulin producer. Lilly's sales lagged behind Novo Nordisk's in China, Wang pointed out, therefore executives at Eli often encouraged sales representatives to bribe physicians to promote the company's medications.

For each new patient using Lilly's insulin products, a physician received a 200 yuan (US$33) bribe in Shanghai, while areas in which the company was fiercely competing with Novo Nordisk doctors were paid as much as 300 yuan (US$49) as a kickback.