AstraZeneca said on Wednesday its China president Leon Wang had been detained by Chinese authorities and, although it did not know the reason, it did not believe it was linked to a large health insurance fraud case involving the company.

Leon Wang, executive vice president in charge of China and the broader Asian region, is being detained while the Chinese government is probing AstraZeneca employees, the drugmaker says.

AstraZeneca stock tumbles as Chinese probe widens, implicating executives in insurance fraud and drug import violations

AstraZeneca shares recorded their biggest one-day drop since March 2020 on Tuesday following a report that dozens of senior executives at its China unit could be implicated in the largest insurance fraud case in the country's pharma sector in years.

Two current and two former senior AstraZeneca Plc executives in the group’s China unit are under investigation in a probe into alleged breaches of laws around drug importation and data privacy, the company said.

Shares of AstraZeneca dropped more than 7% yesterday after the Chinese publication Yicai Global reported that dozens of senior executives in the company's China subsidiary have been implicated in an insurance fraud case.

Astra saw £14.4bn wiped off its value after Chinese media said dozens of managers were implicated in a scandal.