BEIJING --
Drug maker GlaxoSmithKline was fined $492 million on Friday for bribing doctors in China in the biggest such penalty ever imposed by a Chinese court. The company's British former country manager was sentenced to prison.Prison terms for the former manager, Mark Reilly, and four Chinese co-defendants were postponed by a court for two to four years, suggesting they may never be served. The court said it granted leniency because the defendants confessed.
The case, first publicized in mid-2013, highlighted the widespread use of payments to doctors and hospitals by sellers of drugs and medical equipment in a poorly funded health system that Chinese leaders have promised to improve.