Sanofi, Novartis AG, Merck & Co. and Roche Holding AG worked with the same travel agency under investigation by Chinese authorities as part of a probe of GlaxoSmithKline Plc over allegations of bribery and corruption.
Sanofi, based in Paris, and Roche and Novartis of Basel, Switzerland, stopped using the travel agency, called Shanghai Linjiang, once the allegations of wrongdoing surfaced, the three drugmakers said yesterday. Merck also has stopped doing business with the agency, a spokeswoman said. Separately, AstraZeneca Plc said yesterday that police had visited its offices in Shanghai related to “a local police matter focused on a sales representative” and there is no reason to believe the case is related to any other probes.
