Belgian drugmaker UCB has been visited by Chinese authorities as the country widens investigations into bribery by drugmakers, following allegations against Britain's GlaxoSmithKline.
Chinese police have accused GSK of bribing officials and doctors to boost sales and raise the price of its medicines, marking a hardening stance against malpractice by multinationals operating in the country.
"The Administration for Industry and Commerce has visited us," a UCB spokesman said on Thursday.
"They've been launching inspections with several pharma companies active in the country, both Chinese and foreign companies such as ours, and as part of the process our Shanghai office was visited by the agency in the last 48 hours."
The officials visiting the group's Shanghai offices were seeking information on compliance, he added.
The State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) is one of China's main three antitrust regulators in charge of market supervision.
Its investigations often overlap with the country's top watchdog, the National Development and Reform Commission, which has recently launched a pricing investigation into local and international drugmakers, including GSK, Merck and Astellas Pharma.
比利时药厂UCB在华受到工商部门调查
中国指控英国葛兰素史克 旗下在华企业部分高管涉嫌行贿后，当局扩大了对制药厂家的调查，比利时制药商UCB 在华机构也接受了官员的调查。
UCB发言人周四称，中国官员还在调查其他几家制药商，但没有提及企业名称。
“他们对几家制药商进行了调查，包括中国和外国企业，作为调查的一部分，中国官员在过去48小时里调查了我们在上海的办公室。”该发言人表示。
实施调查的官员来自中国国家工商行政管理总局，他们调查了合规相关信息。
中国调查葛兰素史克引发很多人猜测其他跨国公司也将卷入行贿调查中。
“这事闹大了。不光是葛兰素史克。整个行业都卷进去了，”欧洲制药行业一名高管周四称。
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