LONDON ― British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca on Wednesday named Iskra Reic as its new international executive vice president, replacing Leon Wang, who has been detained by Chinese authorities.
Reic will oversee multiple regions, including Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and take over responsibility for the group’s Chinese entity from Wang, a move toward greater stability in its China unit.
Chinese officials are investigating a number of current and former AstraZeneca employees over potential illegal data collection drug imports, the company said last month.
Wang, who headed AstraZeneca China, is on extended leave from the company while the investigation in China continues, the company said in Wednesday’s statement.
It added that it had no new information about Wang, except that he remains under detention.
Reic is a veteran AstraZeneca employee who launched its vaccines and immune therapies unit, which included overseeing the development of Covid-19 vaccines.
In November, the company said it took China’s investigations “very seriously” and assured that it “has not received any notification that it is itself under investigation.”
According to a source close to the case, the detention notably concerns the import by certain customers of cancer therapies not approved by the Chinese health authorities.
Shares in AstraZeneca were down around 3 percent in late afternoon trades on London’s top-tier FTSE 100 index, which was trading 0.3 percent lower overall.
Its shares fell sharply when reports of Wang’s detention emerged in early November, wiping billions of dollars off its valuation.
Be the first to comment