The head of the Chinese branch of AstraZeneca was arrested in China (3 photos)
China is one of the largest pharmaceutical markets in the world and a major market for AstraZeneca in particular. But things haven't gone smoothly for the company there. 
In April 2023, AstraZeneca invested $450 million in building a plant in China to produce drugs for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. And this is only a small part of the investments made in this country. In November 2023, AstraZeneca invested $2 billion in Shanghai-based Eccogene and its experimental drug for the treatment of obesity ECC5004. In short, I won't list everything, but they poured a lot of money into China. 
Leon Wang
But against the backdrop of growing geopolitical tensions between China and the United States, all the company's cunning manipulations began to crumble like a house of cards. The fact is that the US is currently considering the BIOSECURE law - a bill designed to prevent biopharmaceutical companies from working with Chinese partners.
The Chinese side did not remain silent and opened a case under the article of fraud against the president of the Chinese representative office of AstraZeneca Leon Wang, who also oversees the international operations of the pharmaceutical company. He and five other employees were detained and charged with illegally importing cancer drugs into China via Hong Kong and violating data privacy. The fraud allegedly affected the entire top brass of the Chinese part of the company, the head office denies everything, but is ready to cooperate with the investigation. 
In response to the news of the investigation into Wang, AstraZeneca shares fell 8%, which, according to Reuters, wiped out $14 billion of its market value. Analysts predict that such a fall will be difficult to recover.
