AstraZeneca chief says pharma group takes China probe ‘very seriously’

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AstraZeneca’s chief executive Pascal Soriot said the company took the detention of its China president “very seriously”, as the drugmaker raised its guidance for the second time in less than four months on the back of strong sales of cancer medicines.

“We take the matters in China very seriously,” Soriot said as the company reported third-quarter results on Tuesday. “If requested we will fully co-operate with the authorities.”

Soriot’s comments come after the FTSE 100 group confirmed last week that the head of its China business, Leon Wang, had been detained, and that two former and two current executives were under investigation in China over allegations of illegally importing oncology medicines.

A person familiar with the matter said authorities were investigating the alleged importation of AstraZeneca’s cancer drug Imjudo, which has not been approved for sale in China. Shares in AstraZeneca fell about 1 per cent in early trading on Tuesday in London.

The investigations have cast a shadow over AstraZeneca, the largest overseas drugmaker in China, making almost $6bn of sales there last year. Its shares have fallen more than 10 per cent since the company first disclosed that Wang was under investigation on October 30.

In its quarterly results release on Tuesday, the company said it now expected “high teens” percentage growth in revenue and earnings per share, up from expected “mid teens”.

Revenues in the third quarter were $13.6bn, up 21 per cent at constant exchange rates and ahead of analysts’ estimates, with the company’s oncology division making $5.6bn in sales.

In China, sales reached $1.7bn, an increase of 15 per cent compared with the same quarter in 2023.

Soriot said he was “highly encouraged” by the company’s performance this year and continued expected growth in 2025, “providing a solid foundation to deliver on our 2030 ambition”.

The scrutiny of its Chinese business comes after Soriot set an ambitious target this year to almost double global annual sales from $46bn in 2023 to $80bn by 2030.

The company on Tuesday announced $3.5bn of capital investment in the US by the end of 2026, of which $2bn is new investment, as it seeks to hit its $80bn revenue target.

The funding will go towards expanding AstraZeneca’s research and manufacturing footprint across the US, including at an R&D centre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a manufacturing facility in Maryland.

Confidence that the business could hit the target helped the company rise to a £200bn market capitalisation for the first time in August, but the drugmaker’s value has since dropped to under £160bn, following uncertainty over its China operations and disappointing trial results in an experimental lung cancer drug, Dato-DXd.