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Laura Zhou

AstraZeneca’s China president is under investigation in mainland China, the drug company said on Wednesday.
Leon Wang was described as cooperating “with an ongoing investigation”, the pharmaceutical and biotechnology company said in a statement.
“Our China operations continue under the leadership of the current general manager of AstraZeneca China,” the British-Swedish company added.
The company has yet to elaborate whether Wang is in custody, nor have his whereabouts been disclosed.
AstraZeneca China said it would “fully cooperate with the investigation”.

According to his LinkedIn page, Wang joined AstraZeneca in 2013 and became the company’s country president in 2014. He has served as an executive vice-president responsible for commercial operations in China since 2017.
AstraZeneca entered mainland China in 1993 and is now the largest foreign pharmaceutical company in the country. China is AstraZeneca’s third-largest market, according to the company’s website.
The drug maker’s operations in China generated nearly US$5.9 billion in revenue last year, according to its annual report. That accounted for 13 per cent of the company’s total revenue.
AstraZeneca’s shares on the Nasdaq Composite were down by 2.14 per cent at 2.30pm Wednesday, US Eastern time.
The nature of the investigation remains unclear, but this appears to be the first case in recent years of a high-ranking executive for a foreign company being placed under investigation in mainland China.
Following a series of raids on foreign advisory firms’ mainland operations last year, many in China’s expat business community have grown alarmed over their employees’ safety in the country.
The unease extends to what many have said is a lack of transparency in mainland regulations concerning foreign investment as well as data protections and measures invoking national security.

The development also came as pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors in the country are swept up in a nationwide anti-corruption campaign, which has ensnared more than 30 executives from Chinese drug makers since last year.
The investigation into Wang came months after it was reported that police detained several AstraZeneca employees – all Chinese nationals – and summoned dozens for questioning on suspicion of bringing an unapproved cancer drug into the country.
Citing sources, The Wall Street Journal last month reported that the investigation of AstraZeneca’s China-based employees had to do with their bringing a liver cancer drug called Imjudo into the country. The drug has not yet been approved for sale in China.
The investigation also involved AstraZeneca’s practices regarding the collection and transfer of patient and customer data.
Last week, BeiGene, a cancer treatment R&D company, said in a statement on its WeChat account that one of its employees was “cooperating with the relevant investigation”, adding that it “was not related to BeiGene”.
Citing sources, the Economic Observer, a mainland newspaper, earlier identified the BeiGene employee as Eva Yin, the company’s chief commercial officer for greater China. Several AstraZeneca employees were detained along with Yin, the report said.
According to BeiGene’s website, Yin joined the company in January 2022 after working at AstraZeneca for more than 15 years during which she held various positions, including as general manager of the company’s oncology business in China.


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AstraZeneca’s China president under ‘ongoing investigation’, company says

Leon Wang, AstraZeneca’s China president, speaks at an event in Hong Kong in November 2023. Photo: Jelly Tse

The Shanghai district Jing’an is home to one of AstraZeneca’s global R&D centres.

The corporate logo of the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca at its office in Hamburg, Germany. Photo: dpa

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Li Gang, a CCDI disciplinary head who had been deputed to the  Communist Party’s top personnel office, is under investigation for “serious violations of discipline and law”. Photo: Weibo/ 球场见626

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An anti-corruption campaign led by Chinese President Xi Jinping is said to have caught nearly 5 million people in its dragnet. Photo: Xinhua

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AstraZeneca’s Discovery Centre, which houses a global research and development centre and its corporate headquarters, at Cambridge Biomedical Campus, in England, is a testament to the company’s worldwide commitment to R&D excellence.

Frontier research in areas including biopharmaceuticals and genome sequencing will be coordinated by AstraZeneca’s new R&D hub in Hong Kong, including reaching out to external partners.

AstraZeneca has helped to revolutionise the treatment of many diseases, both common and rare, through notable scientific advances in fields including oncology.

Shanghai’s district of Jing’an is home to one of AstraZeneca’s global R&D centres.

Hong Kong’s new AstraZeneca R&D hub will help to mobilise more resources for clinical studies and collaboration with clinical institutions.

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A view of the corporate logo of the pharmaceutical company Astrazeneca in Hamburg. The drugmaker is looking to build a plant in Singapore to produce its cancer-killing drug pills. Photo: dpa

Pascal Soriot, Chief Executive Officer of AstraZeneca, is working to ensure his company can independently supply drugs to major markets as the US pushes to reduce the industry’s reliance on China. Photo: AFP

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China

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Drug maker has yet to elaborate whether Leon Wang is in custody, nor have his whereabouts been disclosed


Drug maker has yet to elaborate whether Leon Wang is in custody, nor have his whereabouts been disclosed.
