AstraZeneca shares recorded their biggest one-day drop since March 2020 on Tuesday following a report that dozens of senior executives at its China unit could be implicated in the largest insurance fraud case in the country's pharma sector in years.

AstraZeneca Plc shares plunged in London, erasing about £14 billion ($18 billion) of market value, amid escalating concerns over a Chinese probe into the UK drugmaker.

AstraZeneca’s stock price dropped by 8.4% during Tuesday’s trading in London after a report fueled fears of a potentially escalating insurance fraud investigation in China. | AstraZeneca’s stock price dropped by 8.

AstraZeneca said its China president Leon Wang is under investigation and the drugmaker would cooperate with Chinese authorities. The company did not say what the investigation was about or whether Wang has been detained by Chinese authorities.

AstraZeneca (AZN) stock slips amid a fraud investigation in China higlighting the importance of that market to the Anglo-Swedish pharma giant. Read more here.