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Corporate Responsibility Report 2008

Maintaining quality

Maintaining the quality of the products we make and the materials we buy is essential to the safety of patients and the success of our business.

We conduct quality assessments for all suppliers of ingredients and packaging materials used in all of our products. We agree specifications for our ingredients and packaging materials with our suppliers and apply a set of global auditing standards for each type of ingredient and packaging material that we buy.

We use a risk-based approach to determine the frequency of audits. In 2008 we conducted 558 audits of our ingredient and packaging material suppliers, compared to 776 in 2007 and 740 in 2006.

On receipt at GKS sites, samples are taken and testing is performed according to a testing protocol. All samples are tested for identity. Every batch is also tested against our quality specification.

Examples of additional measures in place to maintain quality in our supply chain and prevent contamination include the use of dedicated transport, use of tamper evident seals and the use of sophisticated analytical tools to check the authenticity of the materials we receive.

Helping suppliers to meet our quality standards

We conduct quality assessments of all potential suppliers. This enables us to identify companies that meet our required standards as well as those we can work with to make the necessary improvements.

For example, we identified one of our existing chemical suppliers in Asia that had the expertise to supply the final active ingredient for a GSK product. We worked closely with the supplier to help them develop the technical processes and quality standards to begin trial manufacturing in 2001. This included site visits to advise on configuration of plan and building modifications and assistance in preparing documentation required by regulators. In 2006, the US Food and Drug Administration conducted a four day quality and compliance inspection of the site, which resulted in no adverse findings and approved the site for supply to the US market.

Raising employee awareness of our commitment to quality

In 2008, Andrew Witty, GSK’s CEO, endorsed a new, internal quality statement which stresses the importance of quality across all of our business activities, including the critical aspect of product quality. We raised awareness of this statement through discussion at internal Quality Councils throughout our business units, through new articles on our global intranet site, myGSK, and through posters for display at all facilities.

Quality statement