Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca says China chief arrested

Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca said on Thursday that the head of its China operations had been detained following reports that the firm was under investigation for potentially illegal data collection and drug imports.

Leon Wang, president of AstraZeneca China, said a representative from the firm’s global media team had been “detained” in an email to AFP.

“We will fully cooperate with Chinese authorities if requested,” they said.

“We continue to deliver our life-changing medicines to patients in China and our operations continue,” they said.

Last month, the firm confirmed Wang was under investigation.

China is a key market for AstraZeneca, the developer of a Covid-19 vaccine that has been widely administered around the world. World during the coronavirus outbreak.

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However, in September the firm confirmed that several employees were being investigated in China following a report that they were being questioned over potentially illegal data collection and pharmaceutical imports.

Bloomberg said the investigations involved five current and former employees of the firm (all Chinese nationals) and were being led by authorities in the southern city of Shenzhen.

An investigation into the firm’s collection of patient data, which authorities suspect violated Chinese privacy laws, Bloomberg reports people with knowledge of the situation.

Another investigation into the import of an unapproved liver cancer drug in mainland China, according to Bloomberg.

Headquartered in England, the company has 90,000 employees worldwide.

Global companies have faced an increasingly difficult business environment in China in recent years. industry The groups say so, citing a lack of transparency in data laws and prolonged detention of employees in the country.

Source: AFP