Prosecutors have raided the Seoul office of Roche on suspicions the Swiss drugs group illegally provided Tamiflu to HSBC and Novartis amid fears of a widespread outbreak of swine flu.
The South Korean Food and Drug Administration confirmed that prosecutors searched Roche's office on Wednesday as part of an investigation into large scale illegal purchases of the medicine to treat influenza.
“HSBC and Novartis bought a lot of Tamiflu to give to their employees in case of emergency because it would be difficult to secure the medicine if swine flu starts to spread rapidly,” said Kim Young-kyun, an official at the regulatory agency. HSBC declined to comment and Novartis did not respond.