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AstraZeneca’s top executive in China, Leon Wang, has been detained by Chinese authorities over the past week, the drugmaker told the Financial Times.
The FTSE 100 company confirmed that the head of its China business is in detention, while two other current executives in the region and two former executives are under investigation.
The investigation relates to the alleged illegal importation and sale of cancer drug Imjudo and Wang is among the individuals detained in connection with the probe, according to a person familiar with the matter.
A spokesperson for Wang could not be reached for comment.
Imjudo has been approved in other parts of the world, but not in China.
One person familiar with the matter said authorities are investigating the alleged illegal importation of the drug, including through neighbouring Hong Kong to mainland China.
The drug is regularly prescribed alongside AstraZeneca’s other cancer therapy Imfinzi as a combination therapy for patients with advanced liver cancer.
AstraZeneca declined to comment on the nature of the authorities’ investigation. A spokesperson said: “We will fully co-operate with the Chinese authorities.”
AstraZeneca held a call with investors on Wednesday with chief financial officer Aradhana Sarin after it shed £15bn off its market capitalisation on Tuesday in reaction to a Chinese media report that dozens of executives had been implicated in an investigation of medical insurance fraud.
The company told investors that the media report conflated the current investigation with earlier sentences of company salespeople for insurance fraud in relation to the sale of its lung cancer drug, Tagrisso.
Around 100 AstraZeneca salespeople in China were sentenced for insurance fraud between 2020 and 2021 for doctoring genetic test results of patients who would not have otherwise qualified for state insurance for the drug, the company told investors on the call.
AstraZeneca announced last week that Wang was being investigated by Chinese authorities and that he was co-operating with the probe.
Michael Lai, the company’s general manager in China appointed in 2019, has taken the helm of the China business in Wang’s absence.
Shares closed down another 1.9 per cent to 9,919p in London trading on Wednesday.