Glaxo appoints law firm Ropes & Gray for China review

GlaxoSmithKline has appointed international law firm Ropes & Gray to carry out an independent review into alleged corruption by senior executives in its Chinese business, a spokesman for the drugmaker said.

Andrew Witty, chief executive of Britain's biggest pharmaceuticals group, said earlier on Wednesday that he was commissioning the independent review "to investigate what has happened".

Ropes & Gray has offices in the United States, London and Asia, including Shanghai and Hong Kong, according to its website.

Chinese police have detained four Chinese executives from GSK and accused the company of funneling up to 3 billion yuan ($489 million) to travel agencies to facilitate bribes to doctors and officials to boost sales and drug prices.

GSK, which reported second-quarter results on Wednesday, said the "shameful" allegations would inevitably have some impact on its business.

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler)