AstraZeneca: ". . . there was merit to the allegations and appropriate disciplinary action has been taken."

Portions of AstraZeneca Statement:

"We have concluded our investigation of the claims arising from the newsletter and other reports. In some cases, there was merit to the allegations and appropriate disciplinary action has been taken. Our investigation also revealed that a number of the allegations were either unsubstantiated or a result of misunderstanding. We underscore that we do not tolerate retaliation against people who raise legitimate issues and that we found no credible evidence for that here. These claims involve personnel matters. We will not disclose the specific outcomes for confidentiality reasons. We have voluntarily committed to share the results of our investigation into these claims with the OIG."

"As we progress as a company, we will also look for ways to make our processes even better. To this end, we have reiterated with all employees the importance of adhering to the highest ethical standards of all our compliance policies. We are also in the process of launching enhanced systems to make it easier than ever before for employees to obtain guidance on compliance issues, and to report suspected violations and receive information on our follow-up and response to those reports."

More here.