AstraZeneca chief defends China business after Beijing staff arrest

The head of AstraZeneca said the company is “working very closely” with China after the arrest of a handful of employees.

The FTSE 100 pharmaceutical giant revealed last week that a “small number” of employees were under investigation in the country, where it made £4.5bn of revenue last year, or 13 per cent of its total.

Chinese authorities are investigating whether AstraZeneca violated privacy laws by collecting patient data as well as distributing a liver cancer drug that has not been approved in mainland China.

Breaking his silence on the investigation yesterday, chief executive Pascal Soriot launched a staunch defence of his company’s operations there.

Asked about the arrests during an interview with Bloomberg TV, he said: “It’s something we take very seriously, of course.”

‘However, it is important to remember the context. This is a small number of employees – eight or nine – who are affected by this investigation.

“We are the largest pharmaceutical company in China. We have nearly 17,000 employees.”

Soriot also dismissed suggestions that the company should spin off its Chinese business.

“It’s a very important part of our business,” he said. “There are a lot of patients who need our medicines in China, and China has become a very important part of global innovation in our industry.”

Many new medicines have been invented in China that will benefit people all over the world.

The investigation has cast a shadow over AstraZeneca, with shares falling nearly 4% on the day news of the arrests emerged last week.

They fell more than 5 percent in early trading yesterday after the company said its experimental precision drug Dato-DXd did little to improve overall survival among lung cancer patients.

Soriot, 65, said the decline did not take into account the overall strength of the company’s drug portfolio.

The shares ultimately closed down 2.4 percent, or 306 pence, at 12,406 pence. They are more than 7 percent below last week’s peak. That has reduced AstraZeneca’s value from 207.5 billion pounds to 192.3 billion pounds.

Last month, AstraZeneca became the first British company to reach a valuation of £200bn, cementing its place as the largest company in the FTSE 100.