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AstraZeneca has overhauled its local management in China in an attempt to move on from recent scandals and revive sales after the arrest of its president in the country.
The FTSE 100 Group appointed new executives to lead its Chinese oncology business, which has come under intense scrutiny over two incidents, including alleged illegal practices in the sale of cancer drugs.
The scandal engulfed China’s president, Leon Wang, who the company announced in November had been detained, along with several other employees. AstraZeneca has lost more than £15bn of its market capitalization following reports of a local authority investigation.
Alex Lin is replacing Michael Lai as country general manager, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. Lai was one of Wang’s senior managers. Lai moved to the US to be in charge of a key cancer drug for AstraZeneca and report to the head of oncology, according to people close to the company. Lai did not respond to a request for comment.
The drugmaker has promoted Mary Guan, who previously worked in China’s general medicine unit, to lead oncology in China as part of an effort to address the division, according to one person familiar with the matter.
AstraZeneca declined to comment. It previously said it would cooperate fully with Chinese authorities, and that Wang was cooperating with the investigation.
The drugmaker — China’s largest foreign pharmaceutical group by revenue in 2023 — is trying to restart its operations in China, where insiders report that expecting a drop in sales because the hospitals were not willing to cooperate with the company. The new management will play a key role in getting AstraZeneca back on track in what was once its most important growth market. China accounted for 13 percent of global sales in 2023.
The company wants to “show that there was a clean cut with the old management,” said one person familiar with its position.
Another person said that “many changes are expected in the Chinese management team, but they have not been announced yet.”
Executive Director of AstraZeneca Iskra Reić he was appointed in early December to take over from Wang, who also led the international region that includes other emerging markets.
“AstraZeneca has distanced itself from Leon and other affected employees,” said one person close to the company.
They added that Wang was under “huge pressure to rejuvenate growth” after revenues in China fell in 2022.
AstraZeneca executives have not received any official explanation from Chinese authorities and have been unable to contact Wang, according to people familiar with the matter. The company concluded that the investigation related to the alleged illegal importation of the cancer drug Imjudo via Hong Kong to China — where the drug is not approved — as authorities also detained AstraZeneca’s former head of oncology, Yin Min, who was in charge of the department during the alleged offenses.
Separately, scores of marketers have been convicted of health insurance fraud over the past two years after courts found they altered genetic test results to ensure lung cancer patients were eligible for their drug Tagrisso under a national reimbursement scheme.
The drugmaker is pinning most of its hopes in China on its breast cancer drug Enherta, which authorities recently said would be included in the state’s health insurance scheme.
