AstraZeneca AZN-Q shares on Tuesday recorded their worst day since March 2020 after a report 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.
The Anglo-Swedish company, which has invested heavily in the world’s No. 2 pharmaceuticals market, said last week that its China president, Leon Wang, was under investigation and that the drugmaker would cooperate with authorities.
AstraZeneca had not said what the investigation was about or whether Wang, who grew up in China and has been with the company for more than a decade, had been detained by authorities.
The investigation by Chinese authorities has now expanded to include the public security bureau, supervisory commission and other relevant bodies, financial media company Yicai reported on Tuesday, citing a person familiar with the matter.