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AstraZeneca insiders expect sales dip in China after arrest of local boss

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AstraZeneca insiders expect sales dip in China after arrest of local boss

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AstraZeneca’s sales in China have been hit by the arrest of its country head, say company insiders, as local hospitals shun purchasing drugs from the company. 

Executives at the British pharmaceutical company expect to see an “evident” revenue hit in China in the wake of the arrest of its country president Leon Wang and several other senior executives, according to two people familiar with the matter. Sales of oncology products in particular — at the heart of Chinese authorities’ investigations — have been affected, the insiders said.

AstraZeneca declined to comment on the ongoing investigations, or to what extent they would affect its top line.

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The detention of China’s most prominent pharmaceutical executive has sent shockwaves through the industry. Wang’s arrest came after scores of senior hospital officials were detained as part of a wider anti-corruption campaign that Beijing says is targeting the egregious costs of medical care. 

Leon Wang

Wang’s arrest represents a dramatic reversal of fortunes for AstraZeneca in China, where it is the largest foreign drugmaker by sales. Wang had been celebrated by state media for his contributions to bolstering the domestic pharmaceutical and biotech sectors through start-up investments and building manufacturing capacity and research facilities. 

It is unclear at this stage how big a sales hit AstraZeneca will take, with the numbers coming in the company’s next financial report. But one executive told the Financial Times: “The sales impact is already very evident.”

AstraZeneca made $5.9bn in sales in China in 2023, 13 per cent of its total. Last month, it increased its full-year guidance for worldwide revenue and earnings growth.

“Doctors are unwilling to interact with our salespeople and prescribe our medicines. They will say our company has had too many issues and will opt for other choices, particularly Chinese-made drugs,” the AstraZeneca executive added. 

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There are early signs that cancer drugs Tagrisso and Imfinzi have been particularly severely affected, they said. The company hopes that Enhertu sales could weather the crisis, according to one of the people familiar with its position, as it is considered the best drug on the market for certain types of breast cancer.

In recent financial reports, AstraZeneca has cited “strong uptake in China” following Enhertu’s commercial launch at the start of the year. Chinese authorities announced in late November — after Wang’s detention — that the drug would be included in the state health insurance scheme. 

AstraZeneca’s China business has boomed under Wang

Wang’s arrest caught AstraZeneca off guard. The UK leadership initially blamed the scandal on low-level employees in China, following news reports that several salespeople had been arrested for illegally importing cancer drug Imjudo.

Chief executive Sir Pascal Soriot, in an interview with Bloomberg News in September, said it only affected a “small number of employees” and that the company has “strong compliance policies”.

But then, in late October, Wang was arrested, as authorities started probing how much senior management knew about alleged wrongdoings about its sales practices.

“At first, Soriot thought it was just a few salespeople gone rogue out of several thousand. But he realised it was more complicated than that when Leon was detained,” said one person close to the chief executive. 

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AstraZeneca leadership has received no formal explanation from Chinese authorities and has not been able to contact Wang, according to people familiar with the matter. The company has concluded that the probe is about Imjudo sales in China — where the drug is not approved — because authorities also detained AstraZeneca’s former head of oncology, Yin Min, who was in charge of the department during the alleged offences. 

“We haven’t received any explanation. We can only guess that it is related to Imjudo because of the other people who have been implicated,” said one person. 

Separately, AstraZeneca has also faced a public relations crisis after scores of salespeople were convicted over the past two years for medical insurance fraud. The courts found that they tampered with genetic test results to ensure lung cancer patients qualify for Tagrisso under a national insurance reimbursement scheme. 

Shares in AstraZeneca are down more than 8 per cent since the company disclosed Wang’s detention in late October.

Emily Field, an analyst at Barclays, said investors were particularly shaken because they had known Wang, who participated in earnings calls. But now she believes there is consensus that there was an overreaction. “No one thinks AstraZeneca is going to get kicked out of China. Maybe they get a fine in the low-to-mid single-digit billions of dollars,” she said.

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Rival FTSE 100 group GSK was fined £297mn by the Chinese authorities in 2014 after a bribery scandal.

AstraZeneca has appointed Iskra Reic to manage the China business through the crisis, who is seen by Pascal as a “troubleshooter”. When she ran Europe for AstraZeneca, she had to deal with a disgruntled EU over vaccine manufacturing problems during the Covid-19 crisis. Soriot sees her as someone he can trust and hopefully a “fresh face” in China, said the person close to the chief executive. 

But company insiders in China have cast doubt on the ability of a foreign executive to navigate the political sensitivities during a period when the company is under such intense scrutiny from authorities. 

Company insiders are concerned about whether it can return to business as usual. One said: “It is very difficult to see a way out of this for AstraZeneca.”

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Trump Says Israel and Lebanon Agree to Extend Cease-Fire by Three Weeks

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Trump Says Israel and Lebanon Agree to Extend Cease-Fire by Three Weeks

President Trump announced a three-week extension of a cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon that had been set to expire in a few days, after hosting a meeting between Israeli and Lebanese diplomats at the White House on Thursday.

Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group that has been attacking Israel from southern Lebanon, did not have representatives at the meeting and did not immediately comment on the announcement. The prime minister of Israel and the president of Lebanon also did not comment.

A successful peace agreement would hinge upon Hezbollah halting attacks, which Lebanon’s government has little power to enforce because it does not control the militia. Lebanon’s military has mostly stayed out of the fighting and is not at war with Israel.

The cease-fire, which was scheduled to end on April 26, would last until May 17 if it takes effect as Mr. Trump described it. Before the cease-fire was brokered last week, nearly 2,300 people were killed in Lebanon and 13 in Israel. Since then, the number of Israeli airstrikes and Hezbollah attacks have been dramatically reduced, though the two sides have continued exchanging fire.

The Lebanese Ambassador to the United States, Nada Hamadeh, credited Mr. Trump for extending the cease-fire, saying that “with your help and support, we can make Lebanon great again.” Mr. Trump replied, “I like that phrase, it’s a good phrase.”

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Asked about the potential of a lasting peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon, Mr. Trump said that “I think there’s a great chance. They are friends about the same things and they are enemies on the same things.”

But Lebanon and Israel have periodically been at war since Israel’s founding in 1948. Israel has invaded Lebanon for the fifth time since 1978, incursions that have destabilized the country and the delicate balance of power between Muslim, Christian and Druze communities.

In the hours before the president’s announcement on social media, Israel and Hezbollah were trading attacks in southern Lebanon, testing the existing cease-fire.

Mr. Trump said the meeting at the White House had been attended by high-ranking U.S. officials, including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the U.S. ambassadors to Israel and Lebanon.

Earlier on Thursday, an Israeli strike near the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh killed three people, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. Hezbollah claimed three separate attacks on Israeli troops who are occupying southern Lebanon, though none were wounded or killed.

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Hezbollah set off the latest round of fighting last month by attacking Israel soon after the start of the U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign in Iran. Israel responded to Hezbollah’s attacks by launching airstrikes across Lebanon and widening a ground invasion of the country’s south.

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U.S. soldier charged with suspected Polymarket insider trading over Maduro raid

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U.S. soldier charged with suspected Polymarket insider trading over Maduro raid

Smoke rises from Port of La Guaira in Venezuela on Jan. 3, 2026 after U.S. forces seized the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro and his wife.

Jesus Vargas/Getty Images


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Federal prosecutors on Thursday unsealed an indictment against a U.S. Army soldier, accusing him of using his insider knowledge of the clandestine military operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in January to reap more than $400,000 in profits on the popular prediction market site Polymarket.

The Justice Department says Gannon Ken Van Dyke, 38, who was stationed at Fort Bragg, in North Carolina, was part of the team that planned and carried out the predawn raid in Caracas earlier this year that resulted in the apprehension of Maduro.

The Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed the actions against Van Dyke, the first time U.S. officials have leveled criminal charges against someone over prediction market wagers.

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According to the indictment, Van Dyke now faces counts of wire fraud, commodities fraud, misusing non-public government information and other charges.

Trading under numerous usernames including “Burdensome-Mix,” Van Dyke allegedly traded about $32,000 on the arrest of Maduro, resulting in profits exceeding $400,000.

“Prediction markets are not a haven for using misappropriated confidential or classified information for personal gain,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton for the Southern District of New York. “Those entrusted to safeguard our nation’s secrets have a duty to protect them and our armed service members, and not to use that information for personal financial gain.”

Van Dyke’s defense lawyer is not yet publicly known. Polymarket did not return a request for comment.

The charges against Van Dyke come at a sensitive time for the prediction market industry, which has been growing exponentially, despite calls in Washington and among state leaders for the sites to be reined in.

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Van Dyke is the first to be charged in the U.S. for suspected Polymarket insider trading, but Israeli authorities in February arrested several people and charged two on suspicion of using classified information to place bets about military operations in Iran on Polymarket.

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Senate Adopts GOP Budget, Laying the Groundwork to Fund ICE and Reopen DHS

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Senate Adopts GOP Budget, Laying the Groundwork to Fund ICE and Reopen DHS

The Senate early Thursday morning adopted a Republican budget blueprint that would pave the way for a $70 billion increase for immigration enforcement and the eventual reopening of the Department of Homeland Security.

Republicans pushed through the plan on a nearly party-line vote of 50 to 48. It came after an overnight marathon of rapid-fire votes, known as a vote-a-rama, in which the G.O.P. beat back a series of Democratic proposals aimed at addressing the high cost of health care, housing, food and energy. The debate put the two parties’ dueling messages on vivid display six months before the midterm elections.

Republicans, who are using the budget plan to lay the groundwork to eventually push through a filibuster-proof bill providing a multiyear funding stream for President Trump’s immigration crackdown, used the all-night session to highlight their hard-line stance on border security, seeking to portray Democrats as unwilling to safeguard the country.

Democrats tried and failed to add a series of changes aimed at addressing cost-of-living issues, seizing the opportunity to hammer Republicans as out of touch with and unwilling to act on the concerns of everyday Americans.

Here’s what to know about the budget plan and the nocturnal ritual senators engaged in before adopting it.

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The budget blueprint is a crucial piece of Republicans’ plan to fund the Department of Homeland Security and end a shutdown that has lasted for more than two months. After Democrats refused to fund immigration enforcement without new restrictions on agents’ tactics and conduct, the G.O.P. struck a deal with them to pass a spending bill that would fund everything but ICE and the Border Patrol. Republicans said they would fund those agencies through a special budget bill that Democrats could not block.

“We can fix this with Republican votes, and we will,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and the Budget Committee chairman. “Every Democrat has opposed money for the Border Patrol and ICE at a time of great peril.”

In resorting to a new budget blueprint, Republicans laid the groundwork to deny Democrats a chance to stop the immigration enforcement funding. But they also submitted themselves to a vote-a-rama, in which any senator can propose unlimited changes to such a measure before it is adopted.

The budget measure now goes to the House, which must adopt it before lawmakers in both chambers can draft the legislation funding immigration enforcement. That bill will provide yet another opportunity for a vote-a-rama even closer to the November election.

Democrats took to the floor to criticize Republicans for supercharging funding for federal immigration enforcement rather than moving legislation that would address Americans’ concerns over affordability.

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“This is what Republicans are fighting for,” said Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the Democratic leader. “To maintain two unchecked rogue agencies that are dreaded in all corners of this country instead of reducing your health care costs, your housing costs, your grocery costs, your gas costs.”

Democrats offered a host of amendments along those lines, all of which were defeated by Republicans — and that was the point. The proposals were meant to put the G.O.P. in a tough political spot, showcasing their opposition to helping Americans afford high living costs. Fewer than a handful of G.O.P. senators crossed party lines to support them.

The G.O.P. thwarted an effort by Mr. Schumer to require that the budget measure lower out-of-pocket health care costs for Americans. Two Republicans who are up for re-election this year, Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Dan Sullivan of Alaska, voted with Democrats, but the proposal was still defeated.

Republicans also squelched a move by Senator Ben Ray Lujan, Democrat of New Mexico, to create a fund that would lower grocery costs and reverse cuts to food aid programs that Republicans enacted last year. Ms. Collins and Mr. Sullivan again joined Democrats.

Also defeated by the G.O.P.: a proposal by Senator John Hickenlooper, Democrat of Colorado, to address rising consumer prices brought on by Mr. Trump’s tariffs and the war in Iran; one by Senator Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, to require the budget measure to address rising electricity prices, and another by Mr. Markey to create a fund to bring down housing costs.

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Senator Jon Ossoff, a Democrat who is up for re-election in Georgia, also sought to add language requiring the budget plan to address health insurance companies denying or delaying access to care, but that, too was blocked by Republicans.

While Republicans had fewer proposals for changes to their own budget plan, they also sought to offer measures that would underscore their aggressive stance on immigration enforcement and dare Democrats to vote against them.

Mr. Graham offered an amendment to allocate funds toward a deficit-neutral reserve fund relating to the apprehension and deportation of adult immigrants convicted of rape, murder, or sexual abuse of a minor after illegally entering the United States. It passed unanimously.

Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, sought to bar Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood, which provides abortion and other services, and criticized the organization for providing transgender care to minors. Senator John Kennedy, Republican of Louisiana, also attempted to tack on the G.O.P. voter identification bill, known as the SAVE America Act. Both proposals were blocked when Democrats, joined by a few Republicans, voted to strike them as unrelated to the budget plan.

The Republicans who crossed party lines to oppose their own party’s proposals for new voting requirements were Ms. Collins along with Senators Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.

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Ms. Collins and Ms. Murkowski also opposed the effort to block payments to Planned Parenthood.

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