(Yicai Global) Feb. 11 -- Shenzhen's law enforcement authorities have caught 17 people for health insurance fraud regarding an AstraZeneca product.

The southeastern municipality's authorities solved the case in which people had tampered with patients' gene tests to make them eligible for medical insurance reimbursements, the local healthcare security bureau said in a statement on its WeChat account yesterday. The 17 are facing criminal coercive measures, it added.

Employees of the multinational pharmaceutical giant are suspected of being involved in the case, according to the statement. But further investigations are ongoing.

AstraZeneca's internal compliance detected the violation and the firm reported it to authorities while actively cooperating with the investigation, several Chinese media outlets reported, citing the London-headquartered company's statement on Jan. 28. But the statement has later been removed from the company's website.

AstraZeneca entered the Chinese market in 1993. Many of its cancer treatments have been included in the scope of China’s basic health insurance. One of them is Tagrisso (osimertinib), used to treat non-small cell lung cancer. But to be included in the program, patients need to present gene tests to prove certain mutations.

Tagrisso's price has dropped to CNY5,580 (USD877) per month, a bit more than a third of the earlier price, after it was included in the 2021 centralized procurement list.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi