Sept 5 (Reuters) - Police in China have detained five

current and former employees of AstraZeneca ( AZN ) for

questioning about potential illegal activities, Bloomberg News

reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

"We are aware a small number of our employees in China are

under investigation and we have no further information to share

at this point," AstraZeneca ( AZN ) said in a statement.

AstraZeneca ( AZN ) shares were down 2.8% at 1426 GMT, among the

biggest losers on the FTSE 100 index and were on track

for their worst day since early February.

The individuals being held are all Chinese citizens who

marketed cancer drugs in AstraZeneca's ( AZN ) oncology division,

according to Bloomberg.

One of the investigations is related to AstraZeneca's ( AZN )

collection of patient data and whether that infringed China's

data-privacy laws, the report said.

Chinese authorities are also looking into some of the

people's involvement in importing liver cancer drug Imjudo that

had not been approved for distribution in the country, it added,

citing one source.

The investigation is being led by police in Shenzhen, and

the detentions were made earlier in the summer, the report said.

China accounted for nearly 13% of AstraZeneca's ( AZN ) total sales

in 2023.