On November 12th local time, Pascal Soriot, the global CEO of AstraZeneca, publicly responded for the first time to the detention of Wang Lei, the company's China regional president. At this online meeting for investors and analysts, Subobo stated, "Wang Lei is discussing with his lawyer, and the company does not have any new information about the case
We really attach great importance to matters related to China. I have already mentioned it several times today, but I want to say it again, "Su Boko emphasized. In addition, Su Boke said, "The company is not aware of any details of the investigation, and if requested, will fully cooperate as in the past. We and the company attach great importance to this matter, but we do not know many details. We are striving to be as transparent as possible, but currently have very limited information at our disposal. We also attach great importance to the issues in the Chinese market and are taking measures to further strengthen compliance
On the evening of October 30th, AstraZeneca's official website disclosed that Wang Lei, AstraZeneca's Global Executive Vice President, International Business Chairman, and China President, is cooperating with the investigation. AstraZeneca China is operating normally under the leadership of the current General Manager, and if requested, AstraZeneca will fully cooperate with the investigation.
At around 23:00 that evening, Lai Minglong, Senior Vice President of AstraZeneca Global, General Manager of AstraZeneca China, and General Manager of Oncology Business, sent a letter via email to all AstraZeneca employees in China, stating, "The company is operating normally, and I will continue to lead the development of AstraZeneca's various businesses in China.
AstraZeneca has confirmed the authenticity of the internal letter to Time Finance and stated that Lai Minglong will take over various business operations in China.
Recently, AstraZeneca Global revealed the latest developments regarding the removal of its China regional president Wang Lei to cooperate with the investigation. The investigation of current and former executives of AstraZeneca, including Wang Lei, is not related to previous insurance fraud cases, but involves drug imports and data issues. At the market level, there are already opinions that the Wang Lei case involves drug smuggling. Aradhana Sarin, the Chief Financial Officer of AstraZeneca, stated in a briefing with sell side analysts and a briefing from AstraZeneca's investor relations team to investors that the current investigation in China is only targeted at individuals and does not involve the company level.
However, neither AstraZeneca Global nor AstraZeneca China has officially clarified the specific details and reasons for Wang Lei's investigation to the public. Industry speculation generally points to two things, one is the Shenzhen insurance fraud case reported by the National Healthcare Security Administration in early 2022, involving AstraZeneca's lung cancer drug Axitinib. Another case is drug smuggling, or involving AstraZeneca's liver cancer drug, Trastuzumab, and the cancer drug Enhertu, which is known as the "strongest ADC (antibody conjugated drug) in history" by the industry.
In fact, the impact of this incident has already affected multiple companies. For example, on October 25th, Yin Min, the Chief Commercial Officer of BeiGene Greater China, was investigated by regulatory authorities. An authoritative person close to BeiGene confirmed the authenticity of this news to Time Finance, telling them that the incident occurred two days ago and "has nothing to do with BeiGene".
Regarding the reason for Yin Min's investigation, the authoritative source revealed to Time Finance, "This incident is related to AstraZeneca's smuggling case. Yin Min was taken away by the Anti Smuggling Bureau this time, and multiple AstraZeneca personnel were also taken away. Two or three months ago, some people were also taken away, and now the main focus is on investigating past events. The specific situation is not particularly clear, but it is definitely related to these events
According to incomplete statistics from "Storm Eye", since the outbreak of the AstraZeneca insurance fraud case, a total of 9 senior executives above the level of company director have gone missing, with charges including medical insurance fraud, citizen information collection, and smuggling, affecting 3 well-known companies outside of AstraZeneca.
On the day of AstraZeneca's latest global response, AstraZeneca also released its Q3 2024 financial report. In the first three quarters of this year, the company's total revenue was 39.182 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 19%. In terms of regional distribution, the US market revenue in the first three quarters was $16.703 billion, a year-on-year increase of 20%, while the China region revenue was $5.049 billion, a year-on-year increase of 15%.
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. Over 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.
Subobo emphasized that the company remains committed to the Chinese market for a long time, and its previous plan to build a $450 million factory in China has not changed yet. He also stated that AstraZeneca has never publicly discussed the option of splitting its Chinese business.