AstraZeneca 'operating normally'

BEIJING — AstraZeneca is operating normally in China under the leadership of its current general manager and that it would, if requested, fully cooperate with an investigation by authorities on a senior company executive in the country, the company said.

Leon Wang, executive vice-president international, and China unit president at AstraZeneca, is cooperating with the ongoing investigation, the pharmaceutical company said in a statement late on Wednesday.

Separately, responding to a query from a journalist regarding the investigation of Wang, Lin Jian, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said during a news conference on Thursday, "What I want to point out here is that the Chinese government welcomes foreign companies to invest and operate in China, and will protect their legitimate rights and interests."

For specific details, one should inquire with the relevant Chinese authorities, he added.

AstraZeneca's share price fell more than 3 percent at close of trade on the Nasdaq stock market on Wednesday, with its market capitalization down to $225 billion.

In a letter to employees on Wednesday, Michael Lai, general manager of AstraZeneca China, said the company has participated in and benefited from the development of the country and the Chinese pharmaceutical industry.

"I hope everyone will continue to perform well as always, and our management team and I will give you full support," he said.

Eva Yin, chief commercial officer of BeiGene in China, and a former senior executive at an AstraZeneca unit in China, has been questioned by Shenzhen Customs authorities in an investigation last week.

According to a report in Economic Observer News, sources said that Yin was suspected of involvement in smuggling during her tenure at AstraZeneca. Other senior AstraZeneca executives have also been questioned, the Chinese news outlet said.

BeiGene said later in a statement that several employees were cooperating with relevant investigations, which, based on currently available information, involve matters unrelated to BeiGene.

Yin worked at AstraZeneca from 2006 to 2021, and served as general manager of AstraZeneca's oncology business unit in China from 2018 to 2021.

In July 2021, based on a tipoff, the Shenzhen medical insurance authorities verified that some AstraZeneca employees were suspected of defrauding insurance claims.

Later, the relevant authorities dismantled a group suspected of tampering with genetic testing results of tumor patients to deceive medical insurance funds and apprehended 17 individuals involved.

However, according to Astra-Zeneca's statement on the issue, the aforementioned insurance fraud was discovered by the company in August 2021 during an internal compliance check.

During the same period, more than one executive left AstraZeneca's China region, including Yin. In January 2022, Yin joined BeiGene as its chief commercial officer.

China is AstraZeneca's second-largest market by revenue. Its revenue in the country grew 15 percent to $3.378 billion in the first half of this year. Its 2023 revenue in China was nearly $5.9 billion.

In the past two years, AstraZeneca has invested more than $1.2 billion in manufacturing units in the nation, including a new inhalation aerosol site in Qingdao, Shandong province, at an investment of $750 million; a new small-molecule drugs factory in Wuxi, Jiangsu province at $475 million; and a global diabetes drug production line in Taizhou, Jiangsu province.

AstraZeneca has said that it supported over 130 Chinese companies last year to explore business opportunities overseas in markets including the Middle East and Europe.

Yin Mingyue contributed to this story.

China Daily