London (awp/afp) – British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca said on Tuesday that it took its situation in China “very seriously”, a key market where it is the subject of investigations for data collection and potentially illegal imports of medicines, in its quarterly results press release.
“We take the situation in China very seriously. If the authorities ask us, we will cooperate fully with them,” assured Director General Pascal Soriot in this press release. The group announced last week the detention of its president in China, Leon Wang.
The company recalls that it is aware of “a number of individual investigations carried out by the Chinese authorities on current and former employees of AstraZeneca”, relating in particular, “to its knowledge”, to “allegations of fraud in the medical insurance, illegal importation of medicines and personal data breaches.
“The company has not received any notification that it itself is under investigation,” it said in its statement.
AstraZeneca published on Tuesday a net profit up 4% over one year to 1.4 billion dollars for the third quarter, driven by an increase in its turnover of 18% over the period, to 13.6 billion dollars. dollars.
In particular, it sees its revenues increase by almost 20% in its oncology division, the largest in terms of turnover. Its vaccines and immune therapies division posted growth of 48%.
Large market
China is an important market for AstraZeneca: it represents around 12% of its third quarter turnover, and shows growth of 15% over the period, according to figures released by the company on Tuesday.
Mr. Soriot said last year that he was “impressed by the growth and pace of innovation” in China, “which underlines the competitive advantage of our leading presence in this country.”
But in September, the company confirmed that several of its employees were the subject of an investigation in the country.
The investigations carried out by the authorities in Shenzhen (south of China) concerned five people of Chinese nationality, some still being employees of the group and others no longer being, according to the economic information agency Bloomberg.
One of the investigations relates to the collection of patient data, with authorities suspecting non-compliance with Chinese privacy laws.
Another concerns possible imports of a liver cancer drug that has not been approved in mainland China, according to the same source.
Some multinationals report an increasingly difficult business environment in China in recent years. They particularly deplore a lack of transparency on laws relating to data and prolonged detentions of employees.
The Financial Times assured last year that AstraZeneca had designed a plan to split its activities in China into a new entity which would remain under its control, to “protect the company against rising geopolitical tensions”, which had been described as “rumors” by the company.
AstraZeneca, headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom, employs 90,000 people worldwide.
The group said in May its ambition to reach $80 billion in turnover by 2030, focusing in particular on oncology, with the launch of 20 new drugs.
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