China contacts Danish insulin maker in bribery probe

The world's leading insulin maker, Danish pharmaceutical group Novo Nordisk, said Thursday Chinese authorities had contacted it following a corruption probe into British drug firm GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). "We were contacted on August 1st by the local authorities in Tianjin, where we have our factory. They contact companies on a regular basis," Novo Nordisk general manager Lars Rebien Soerensen told analysts in a telephone conference. China last month arrested four GSK executives for alleged bribery and other offences, and is currently investigating 60 foreign and domestic pharmaceutical companies over their prices. GSK later admitted that some of its executives had broken Chinese law and that it was collaborating with the probe. Meanwhile, China's 21st Century Business Herald newspaper reported Thursday that a whistleblower had provided it with four documents purporting to show that staff at French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi paid doctors in 79 hospitals bribes totalling 1.71 million yuan in a bid to increase sales. Soerensen said that as far as Novo Nordisk was concerned, there was no formal investigation into the group. "It has not been disclosed to us that we are part of a formal investigation and we have no knowledge that we should be," he said. "Having said that I wouldn't be too surprised, if there were to be an industry-wide investigation after the GSK situation, that we would be contacted... We've been operating in China for many, many years," he added. He said he was ready to assist Chinese investigators. "We will work with them to resolve any issues that may arise," he said.