China starts investigation of alleged bribery by Sanofi

Following last week’s whistleblower allegations that French drug major Sanofi (Euronext: SAN) had paid bribes to Chinese doctors (The Pharma Letter August 9), the Beijing municipal authorities have set up a joint investigation team to probe the company’s activities, reports Xinhau, the official Chinese news agency.

An anonymous whistleblower told the Guangzhou-based 21st Century Business Herald last Thursday that Sanofi staff paid bribes, disguised as research grants, totaling about 1.69 million renminbi ($274,048) to 503 doctors at 79 hospitals in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hangzhou in late 2007 as "research grants."

The Beijing municipal health bureau will coordinate with the disciplinary authorities to investigate the case, a bureau official told Xinhua on Friday. Sanofi has reiterated its previous statement saying it takes the allegations seriously, and that it is “committed to cooperating with the authorities in any review they undertake regarding these allegations.”