By Ben Hirschler and Kazunori Takada

British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline said on Monday some of its executives in China appeared to have broken the law in a bribery scandal, as it promised changes in its business model that would lower the cost of medicine in the country.

GSK is the latest in a string of multinationals to be targeted by Chinese authorities over alleged corruption, price fixing and quality controls.

Chinese police visited the Shanghai office of another British drug maker, AstraZeneca, a company spokeswoman said on Monday. They arrived on Friday and took away a sales representative for questioning, she said.

Health Minister Li Bin maintained the pressure on the drugs industry by stating that her department would place people and companies guilty of bribery on a black list and punish them.

GSK's head of emerging markets, Abbas Hussain, said his company had zero tolerance for employees who broke the law.

"Certain senior executives of GSK China, who know our systems well, appear to have acted outside of our processes and controls, which breaches Chinese law," he said in a statement.

Hussain, sent to China last week to lead GSK's response to the crisis, held a meeting with the Ministry of Public Security at which he also promised to review GSK's business model.

"Savings made as a result of proposed changes to our operational model will be passed on in the form of price reductions, ensuring our medicines are more affordable to Chinese patients," Hussain added.

Britain's biggest drug maker gave no details on the changes or the extent of price cuts - but the move addresses a key issue for Beijing, which launched a probe into pricing at 60 local and international drug firms earlier this month.

GSK supplies key products such as vaccines in China, as well as drugs for lung disease and cancer.

Chinese police, who have detained four Chinese executives from GSK, last week accused the firm of bribing officials and doctors to boost sales and raise drug prices by funneling up to three billion yuan ($489 million) to travel agencies.

GSK has called the allegations "shameful."

Last week, Chinese officials also visited the Shanghai office of Belgian drugmaker UCB. The latest visit to AstraZeneca shows authorities are spreading the net, although AstraZeneca described the case as a local police matter.

"We believe that this investigation relates to an individual case and while we have not yet received an update from the Public Security Bureau, we have no reason to believe it's related to any other investigations," the spokeswoman said.

Chief Executive to speak on Wednesday

In a statement, China's Ministry of Public Security said GSK's Hussain, who was dispatched to China last week by CEO Andrew Witty, apologised for the scandal during the meeting.

Witty will detail what action the drug maker is taking in response to the bribery allegations when he presents quarterly results on Wednesday, sources said.

GSK's intention to cut the price of its medicines in China would be in line with how other foreign companies have responded to pressure from Beijing.

European food groups Nestle and Danone said they would cut infant milk formula prices in China after Beijing launched an inquiry into the industry.

"In China, when the government criticises people, they tend to bow down and apologise very quickly because they are scared of the authority of the central government to do tremendous harm to their business - whether it be for arresting executives very quickly or through auditing," said Shaun Rein, managing director of the Shanghai-based China Market Research Group.

Separately, GSK had a setback in another important emerging market on Monday when it abandoned a scheme to increase its stake in GSK Consumer Nigeria, its consumer healthcare business in the country, following opposition from minority shareholders.

Culture of payments

China has long been known for a culture in which drug companies make payments to doctors, since physicians rely on rewards for writing prescriptions to offset meager salaries.

Those practices, however, are increasingly at odds with a crackdown on corruption under President Xi Jinping, leaving companies struggling to toe the line while not losing business in a highly competitive market.

Chinese state media has aired interviews with one of the detained GSK executives who has said travel agencies were used to arrange conferences, some of which were never held, to allocate money that could then be used for bribes.

One of the agencies at the centre of the scandal has been identified by state media as Shanghai Linjiang International Travel Agency.

The New York Times said documents it obtained showed that in the last three years at least six other global pharmaceutical firms, including Merck, Novartis, Roche and Sanofi, had used that agency to make arrangements for events and conferences.

Roche, Merck and Sanofi told Reuters they had used the Linjiang agency in the past. Novartis had no immediate comment.

The travel agency's business has now been suspended, China's official Xinhua news agency reported last Thursday.

葛兰素史克称其中国高管似有违法行为 阿斯利康亦遭调查

英国制药商葛兰素史克 周一表示，该公司在华企业某些高管的行为似乎已经超出工作流程，违反了中国法律，同时承诺将改进原有的中国业务模式，以降低成本让利于中国消费者。

中国当局正在就涉嫌贿赂、定价和质量控制等问题对多家跨国企业进行调查。

继葛兰素史克曝出涉嫌行贿丑闻后，英国制药商阿斯利康(AstraZeneca)上海办公室也受到中国警方调查，成为最新一家遭到调查的外国药企。

阿斯利康一名发言人周一表示，中国警方上周五前往公司调查，并带走一名员工进行讯问。

葛兰素史克新兴市场总裁Abbas Hussain表示，该公司对违法员工采取零容忍政策。

他在声明中则表示，“葛兰素史克中国公司某些熟悉公司体系的高管的行为似乎已超出工作流程和控制，这违法了中国法律。”

葛兰素史克上周派Hussain来华解决这起危机事件。Hussain与中国公安部举行了会谈，并在会谈中承诺将评估葛兰素史克的商业模式。

他说：“运营模式改变节省下来的成本将以降价形式让利于中国消费者，确保我们的药物更容易负担。”

葛兰素史克没有给出业务模式转变的细节，亦未提及降价幅度.

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