Two more AstraZeneca employees questioned in China

Chinese police have questioned two more AstraZeneca employees in Shanghai, after a sales representative was taken away for questioning earlier, the British drugmaker said on Tuesday.

The two individuals are line managers of the sales representative who was detained on Friday, a spokeswoman for the company said. One of the managers is continuing to help the Shanghai Public Security Bureau with their inquiries.

The spokeswoman said the company had no reason to think that the police inquiries were connected to any wider investigation.

AstraZeneca previously described the questioning of its sales representative as a local police matter that did not appear to be directly linked to allegations of corruption made against GlaxoSmithKline .

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Greg Mahlich)