AstraZeneca said on Wednesday that to its knowledge an ongoing investigation by Chinese authorities into the company's top executive in the country, Leon Wang, is separate from a large health insurance fraud case also involving the company.
The drugmaker said its Chief Financial Officer Aradhana Sarin had briefed investors on the subject on Wednesday to quell concerns about the fraud probe expanding following a report by financial media company Yicai a day earlier that led its shares to plunge more than 8%.
The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker confirmed on Wednesday that Wang, its China president, was in Chinese custody. One week ago, AstraZeneca said that Wang was under investigation and that the drugmaker would cooperate with authorities, according to Reuters.
AstraZeneca said on Wednesday it did not know what Wang was detained for.
The Yicai report on Tuesday said that dozens of the drugmaker's senior executives in China could be implicated in the largest insurance fraud case in the country's pharma sector in years. But AstraZeneca said on Wednesday that to its knowledge the insurance fraud case did not involve any current AstraZeneca executives.
AstraZeneca has invested heavily in the world's No. 2 pharmaceuticals market.
