On October 29, 2024, just hours after celebrating a business school anniversary on social media, AstraZeneca’s (AZ, NASDAQ: AZN) Global Executive Vice President and China President, Leon Wang, was confirmed to be cooperating with an investigation. The announcement came less than 48 hours later via AstraZeneca China’s official website.
On the evening of October 30, the company stated that Leon Wang is assisting with an investigation in China. When approached by Caijing for further details, AstraZeneca declined to provide additional information.
Leon Wang, a graduate of Shanghai International Studies University in 1993, began his pharmaceutical career in 1996 as an assistant general manager at Roche (SWX: ROG) China. He joined AstraZeneca China in 2013 and became its president the following year, during which time the Chinese market emerged as AstraZeneca’s second-largest market, generating $2.24 billion in revenue, accounting for 8.45% of total sales.
Under Leon Wang’s leadership, AstraZeneca China has deeply integrated with the local market, introducing and selling drugs while also collaborating with local governments to establish initiatives such as the Wuxi International Life Science Innovation Park and the AstraZeneca Zhongjin (Qingdao) Venture Capital Fund.
Leon Wang is widely regarded as one of the most knowledgeable executives in multinational pharmaceuticals regarding the Chinese market. His cooperation with the investigation, however, has not come as a surprise, as hints of scrutiny have surfaced over the past weeks and even years.
Notably, on October 25, the news broke that Yin Min, Chief Business Officer of BeiGene’s Greater China region, was also cooperating with an investigation. BeiGene (NASDAQ: BGNE) later clarified that the employee involved was not related to the company.
This scrutiny follows a three-year investigation into AstraZeneca employees allegedly involved in healthcare fraud, which began in July 2021 when the Shenzhen Medical Insurance Bureau uncovered a scheme involving the manipulation of genetic test results for lung cancer patients to defraud insurance funds. The case has implicated over a hundred individuals, with AstraZeneca’s prominent lung cancer drug, Osimertinib (brand name: Tagrisso), at the center of the allegations.
As the investigation continues, the fallout has been significant, with numerous sales personnel across multiple provinces implicated, leading to a near collapse of AstraZeneca’s oncology sales team in China.- Flcube.com
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