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Business
Words in the News
Thursday 17 April 2003
Vocabulary from the business news. Listen to and read the report
then find explanations of difficult words below.
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Aids foundation sues Glaxo
Summary: A big British company is to pay nearly ninety million dollars for overcharging the American government for medicines. GlaxoSmithKline was accused of repackaging cheap drugs so they look more expensive when they were sold to the American health service. This report from Stephen Evans:
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The
News 
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By law, drug companies have to charge the American government's health service, Medicaid, the lowest price they offer to anyone. A New York legal firm discovered though that the German company Bayer and the British company, GlaxoSmithKline, were repackaging cheap drugs and selling them at a higher price than their lowest list price.
Bayer, which made more from the breach, is to pay the US government two hundred and fifty million dollars. The British company, GlaxoSmithKline, is to pay ninety million dollars. GSK says the law was ambiguous and that it continues to believe that its interpretation of the law was reasonable and in good faith, and, its statement continues, the company has agreed to a civil settlement to avoid the delay and expense of a trial.
The company does add though that it has discontinued the practice which occurred before the new company was formed of a merger between SmithKline Beecham and Glaxo Welcome in December 2000.
Stephen Evans, BBC
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The
Words
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repackaging
putting the products into new containers or wrappers
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list price
the usual or official price before any reductions
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made
here, earned
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breach
the breaking of a promise or agreement
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ambiguous
if something is ambiguous then it can have more than one possible meaning
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interpretation
explanation and understanding of the meaning (of something)
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in good faith
if you do something in good faith you believe that what you are doing is right, honest and legal
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settlement
an official agreement between two sides who have been involved in a dispute
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practice
something that is done regularly
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merger
the joining together of two or more organisations for the benefit of all of them
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Read
more about this story |
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