AstraZeneca appoints new China head after long-standing executive detained

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AstraZeneca has appointed a new head of its China business, after her predecessor Leon Wang was detained by authorities in the country as part of a crackdown on the healthcare sector. 

Iskra Reic will take over from Wang to lead the drugmaker’s business in the country and will be based at the company’s research and development centre in Shanghai, the company said on Wednesday. 

The UK-listed group added that Wang was on “extended leave” while under investigation in China. 

AstraZeneca has not given any details about the probe, which the Financial Times reported previously related to the alleged illegal importation of cancer drug Imjudo. The medicine has not been approved in China. 

A number of staff at the company — the most valuable group listed on the London Stock Exchange — have also been charged with insurance fraud related to sales of lung cancer drug Tagrisso in a separate case. 

Shares in AstraZeneca have fallen about 20 per cent from their highs in late August. 

AstraZeneca has the largest China business of any foreign drugmaker. Wang had run the unit for 10 years, expanding it to become the company’s second-largest market in the world. He was a well-known figure in the industry in China, with deep knowledge and contacts. 

Reic, a Croatian national whose job title will be “executive vice-president, international”, has worked mainly in Europe and Russia. She has no previous experience in China.

She has been at the company since 2001, most recently launching the company’s vaccines and immune therapies unit, after it developed a Covid-19 shot with the University of Oxford during the pandemic. Like Wang, she will have responsibility for the “international” region, which includes Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and Latin America. 

AstraZeneca chief executive Sir Pascal Soriot said Reic was a “highly accomplished leader with extensive international experience”, which would be “invaluable” in helping to expand the business.  

Soriot has been enthusiastic about China’s potential as an important hub for science and dealmaking with innovative biotechs, as well as a large market with an ageing population. 

While some investors have been concerned that the probe could be a sign of the company falling out of favour in China, AstraZeneca received positive news last week when China put its breast cancer drug Enhertu on its insurance coverage list.