Drugmaker AstraZeneca names new China chief to replace detained executive
By Juliana Liu, CNN
Hong Kong (CNN) — British drugmaker AstraZeneca has appointed a new China head, replacing a former executive who has been detained by authorities in the country.
Iskra Reic, who oversaw the development of the firm’s Covid shot, will succeed Leon Wang, “who is on extended leave from the company while under investigation in China,” it said in a statement on Wednesday.
Investors have been nervous about AstraZeneca since the company revealed Wang’s status in October. For many, the case calls to mind a massive bribery scandal involving rival British pharma firm GlaxoSmithKline, which was fined a record $489 million in China 10 years ago.
Reic, an AstraZeneca veteran, will move to Shanghai to take up her new enlarged role, according to Reuters, which reported she would continue to lead its vaccines and immune therapies unit.
The pharmaceutical giant is the most valuable company on the FTSE 100, an index of the largest 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange.
It said in October that Wang was “cooperating with an ongoing investigation,” and later confirmed he had been detained. It said it had no further information about the case.
The drugmaker isn’t the only company to have had an executive disappear into China’s judicial system.
Bao Fan, a star investment banker, was reported missing in February 2023 amid a wider anti-corruption crackdown. A year and a half later, no official charges or allegations have been made against him.
According to Yicai, a Chinese state-owned financial media outlet, Wang and other employees of AstraZeneca, known for its widely used cancer drugs, are being investigated by Chinese officials for allegedly violating laws around insurance fraud.
Last month, its CFO Aradhana Sarin said in a call with investors that the firm was aware of the ongoing medical insurance fraud investigation, which has resulted in the sentencing of about 100 former employees, as well as another probe into the illegal importation of cancer drugs into mainland China.
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— CNN’s Anna Cooban contributed reporting
