Sanofi latest to be implicated Chinese bribery allegations

In the wake of allegations that several multinational pharma companies have engaged in unlawful marketing practices, including bribery, in China, an anonymous whistleblower, identified only through a false name "Pei Gen," told the 21st Century Business Herald newspaper that staff at French drug major Sanofi’s (Euronext: SAN) Chinese subsidiary paid bribes totalling around 1.7 million renminbi ($277,800) to 503 doctors at 79 hospitals in Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou and Guangzhou in late 2007, according to a Reuters report.

The newspaper report said the whistleblower had declined to reveal his identity, but noted that the nature of the content he provided led the paper to believe he was, or had been, a high-level employee with Sanofi in China.

Sanofi takes “allegation very seriously”