GlaxoSmithKline wants to improve its image.

The drug maker is working harder to operate with integrity and transparency, said Deirdre Connelly, president of North American Pharmaceuticals, in a speech at a Washington conference on Monday.

"In some ways our industry lost its way, and failed to fully appreciate the evolving expectations of our stakeholders," Connelly said, according to prepared remarks GSK made available.

"Some of it is because industry bashing is good politics. Some it it is because we still make mistakes," she said. "No matter the reasons, at the end of the day, we must regain the public's trust in our industry."

GSK has been tarnished recently by a series of problems.

An experimental drug to treat lupus could clear an important regulatory hurdle next week.

The drug, known as Benlysta, would be the first new treatment for the autoimmune disease in more than 50 years. It also would provide a needed boost for its developers, Human Genome Sciences and GlaxoSmithKline.

A U.S. Food and Drug Administration panel is scheduled to recommend Tuesday whether Benlysta should be approved by the agency next month. The agency typically follows the recommendations of its panels, but not always.

This morning, in a preliminary review posted online, FDA staff raised some questions about Benlysta's effectiveness in certain patients, including African Americans. They also are worried that the drug's benefits appeared greater among patients in Latin America compared with those from the U.S. and Canada.

"“The robustness and the clinical meaning of the efficacy findings warrant discussion,” the FDA staff wrote.

The panel could decide additional clinical tests are needed or make another recommendation that could delay the drug. But analysts say that the drug is likely to be approved and expect annual sales to eventually exceed $2 billion.

It was mostly business as usual for Deirdre Connelly today: back-to-back meetings at GlaxoSmithKline's North American headquarters in Research Triangle Park. But they were interspersed with some media interviews.

Fortune magazine this morning ranked Connelly as No. 27 on its annual list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business. That's up 10 spots from last year.

"I'm not going to let this go to my head," Connelly said in a short phone interview this afternoon. "I take the recognition very seriously, but it's also an opportunity to talk about the good things happening at GSK."

As president of North American pharmaceuticals for the British company, Connelly, 50, oversees GSK's Triangle operations and its 5,000 employees in Research Triangle Park and Zebulon. A native of Puerto Rico, Connelly joined GSK last year after spending 25 years with rival Eli Lilly.

Click "Read More" for edited highlights from today's interview.

Deirdre Connelly continues her climb on Fortune magazine's annual list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business.

Connelly, 50, a top executive at GlaxoSmithKline, rose to No. 27 on this year's list, up 10 spots from last year.

As president of North American pharmaceuticals for the British company, Connelly oversees GSK's Triangle operations and its 5,000 employees in Research Triangle Park and Zebulon.

She reports to CEO Andrew Witty and is responsible for helping GSK scientists find promising new drugs and boosting sales of existing products.

As Fortune notes, Connelly's "$15-billion-a-year business hinges on its respiratory franchise. The hope: that Relovair, now in clinical trials, replaces Advair, the blockbuster GSK drug whose patent soon expires."

GlaxoSmithKline will revamp the way it pays its U.S. drug salespeople next year, tying bonuses to customer service rather than just sales targets.

The British drug maker, which has its North American headquarters in Research Triangle Park, said it's responding to requests by physicians, who want to see fewer drug salespeople. GSK also is trying to adapt to a changing health-care system, where providers' decisions on purchasing and utilization increasingly are made from a central office.

Bonuses will be tied partly to feedback from physicians and other providers, and by "a sales professional's adherence to the company values of transparency, integrity, respect and patient-focus," GSK wrote in a news release.

"We've spent a good deal of time listening to our customers, and they are asking us for more information about reimbursement, disease education and support for improving patient health," said Deirdre Connelly, GSK's president for North American pharmaceuticals, in a prepared statement. "In response, we are changing the way we sell our medicines and vaccines."

Deirdre Connelly, who became the president of North American pharmaceuticals with GlaxoSmithKline in February, doesn't have much down time these days.

Most of her time is spent working or traveling between GSK's U.S. headquarters in Research Triangle Park and another large campus outside Philadelphia. Read our Q&A with Connelly here.

Another tidbit about Connelly: During the little free time she does have, she mostly reads and spends time with friends and family around the dinner table.

She has been reading several books by Spanish authors recently, including "Niebla," by Miguel de Unamuno. The novel is essentially a metaphor for man asserting his authority against God.

Connelly, who was born in Puerto Rico and is Roman Catholic, also recently read "The Shack" by William Young, a fictional account of the Holy Trinity. Connelly said she enjoyed the depiction of God as a woman and the life lessons the book offers.

Joining GlaxoSmithKline boosted Deirdre Connelly's power ranking.

Connelly, who became head of GSK's North American pharmaceutical business in February, is No. 37 on Fortune Magazine's latest list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in business. Connelly, 49, defected to GSK after spending 25 years at rival Eli Lilly.

Connelly was No. 42 in last year's Fortune list.

She is the top ranking official at GSK's U.S. headquarters in Research Triangle Park and oversees key drugs such as the asthma treatment Advair. The British drug maker employs more than 5,000 in the Triangle but has been shedding jobs to cut costs amid slowing U.S. sales.

A few other Tar Heels made Fortune's latest list.