Astra CEO Says ‘Several Companies’ Affected by China Problems

AstraZeneca Plc isn’t the only health-care company facing compliance questions in China as concern continued to swirl about a probe into alleged legal breaches tied to drug importation and data privacy.
“Across our own industry, several companies are affected by some of the issues we’re affected by,” Chief Executive Officer Pascal Soriot said Tuesday. 
About 100 former Astra employees have been sentenced on charges of medical insurance fraud. A handful of current and former senior executives are under investigation for the alleged illegal importation of cancer drugs. Leon Wang, president of Astra’s China division, is being detained and the company has said it has few details about the probe.
Astra has said it hasn’t received any notification that the company itself is under investigation.
Soriot didn’t name other companies that have been impacted, though he did detail some of the issues. Breast cancer patients from mainland China can travel to Hong Kong, get prescription drugs there to treat the disease and bring them back, he said. What’s illegal is using a delivery service to have drugs from Hong Kong shipped to the mainland for a fee, he said. 
“It’s very hard to monitor this,” he said. “I tell you, a number of other companies have also been caught on this.”
Astra’s woes have been “more visible” than others for reasons that still aren’t properly understood but could be because it’s the biggest, he said. “We take this very seriously, but at the same time we have to wait. We just have to wait to understand better,” he said.
Still, Astra remains committed to China. 
“Whatever happened, the country will be there tomorrow, the company will be there, and we will continue,” Soriot said.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.