On November 6th local time, AstraZeneca UK headquarters provided investors with an update on the latest situation of the company's Chinese executives. At the meeting, AstraZeneca announced that its China regional president, Wang Lei, has been "detained", which is the company's latest response to Wang Lei's current situation.
AstraZeneca China announced on October 30th that its CEO in China, Wang Lei, is "cooperating with the investigation".
On November 5th, AstraZeneca's stock price plummeted by nearly 8%, and its market value evaporated by over £ 15 billion. On November 6th, Aradhana Sarin, the Chief Financial Officer of AstraZeneca, communicated with sell side investors to appease their concerns about the company's current situation.
On November 7th, AstraZeneca China told First Financial reporters that they are currently unaware of the progress of the case.
The first financial reporter learned that on November 6th, AstraZeneca headquarters held an online investor briefing. According to a summary of an investor meeting obtained by reporters, AstraZeneca stated at the meeting that a large-scale investigation into the "insurance fraud case" had been launched as early as three years ago, involving over 100 former AstraZeneca employees, but currently not involving the company's current executives. The AstraZeneca "insurance fraud case" mainly targets the company's star lung cancer drug "Terassa".
The company also revealed at the meeting that two other current executives and two former executives are under investigation, mainly targeting the illegal import and sale of drugs from Hong Kong to mainland China.
The first financial reporter learned from a major institutional investor of AstraZeneca that the information currently held by the institution is basically consistent with what AstraZeneca disclosed to investors on Wednesday. However, based on the limited information currently available, it is still impossible to determine whether these investigations will have a greater impact on AstraZeneca in the future.
According to AstraZeneca's disclosure, the company currently has 12000 employees in China, and sales in China account for approximately 13% of AstraZeneca's global sales. In the past decade, China has also been one of the core markets for AstraZeneca to achieve its global sales targets, and AstraZeneca has made significant investments in China.