The Chinese government’s actions against foreign drug makers emerged like a late-summer Beijing storm: heavy drops slapping slowly at first, then all at once becoming a disorienting deluge, pounding down in every direction.

The turmoil began on July 2, 2013, with an announcement from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the People’s Republic of China’s top economic planner, that it would examine 27 drug manufacturers for issues related to costs and 33 for issues related to pricing. On July 15, China’s Ministry of Public Security said it had detained four senior executives from British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) for bribing doctors and hospital officials using $489 million in fraudulent transactions funneled through travel agencies. Then, one after another, in the Guangzhou-based newspaper 21st Century Business Herald, a series of whistleblower bribery allegations rained down on Paris-based drug maker Sanofi, Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis, and Indianapolis, Indiana-based Eli Lilly & Co.

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