Asia Tech Wire (Oct 31) -- AstraZeneca plc said Wednesday that Leon Wang, executive vice president for international and AstraZeneca China president, is cooperating with Chinese authorities in an investigation.

AstraZeneca China is operating normally under its current general manager, according to a statement.

"If requested, AstraZeneca will fully cooperate with the investigation," the British-Swedish drugmaker said.

Michael Lai, AstraZeneca's global senior vice president, general manager of AstraZeneca China and general manager of its oncology business, released a letter to Chinese employees late Wednesday confirming Wang's involvement in a investigation.

Lai said, "Please be assured that the company is operating normally and I will continue to lead the development of AstraZeneca's businesses in China."

"I hope everyone will do their jobs as well as they have always done, and the company's management team and I will give everyone our full support," he said.

It comes after news that a number of regional managers and area directors at AstraZeneca China have been taken away for investigation in connection with an insurance fraud.

Last week, Eva Yin, chief commercial officer for Greater China at Chinese biopharmaceutical company BeiGene, was under investigation by Chinese authorities.

BeiGene said at the time that Yin's involvement in the investigation had nothing to do with the company.

Yin worked at AstraZeneca for 15 years and left the company in 2021, when China began investigating AstraZeneca employees for alleged insurance fraud.