Eli Lilly is the latest pharmaceutical company to be drawn into China bribery claims
US drugmaker Eli Lilly has said it is "deeply concerned" by claims that it bribed doctors to prescribe its drugs.
Chinese newspaper 21st Century Business Herald, cited a former employee identified as saying the firm paid out 30m yuan ($4.9m; £3.1m).
The claims come at a time when China is investigating some drugs firms over similar bribery allegations.
Lilly said it had launched an internal probe last year after a former manager made similar allegations against it.
"At the time of the allegations, we did an exhaustive investigation to search for any evidence of kickbacks," the firm said in a statement.
"Although we have not been able to verify these allegations, we take them seriously and we are continuing our investigation."
The company said it interviewed employees, monitored emails and audited expense reports as part of its internal probe.
However, it said it had not employed any sales manager by the name of Wang Wei, the name mentioned in the 21st Century Business Herald report.
Source: BBC News - Business http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23806596#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
