(Yicai) Nov. 22 -- Gu Haoliang, former vice president of Shanghai Pharmaceuticals Holding, is being investigated by an anti-corruption watchdog in the city, making him the drugmaker’s sixth senior executive to be probed in the past six months.

Gu is under disciplinary review and supervisory investigation by the Minhang District Commission for Discipline Inspection on suspicion of serious violations of discipline and law, the Shanghai government announced on WeChat late yesterday. 

In early September, Shanghai Pharma said four executives, including Vice President Pan Deqing, were being investigated on suspicion of breaching discipline and law, while former Chairman Zhou Jun, who quit on Nov. 18, was put under investigation for the same reasons on Nov. 20.

China began a concerted year-long crackdown on corruption in the country’s healthcare sector in July, targeting drugmakers, hospitals, and insurance funds.

Zhou is also the president of Shanghai Industrial Investment Holdings, the city's biggest state-owned investment holding conglomerate and Shanghai Pharma's parent firm.

Gu stepped in as vice president of Shanghai Pharma in 2016 before retiring in March last year, according to the company. Gu's salary, his main source of income, reached CNY5.8 million (USD810,000) a year in 2019, the firm's annual earnings report showed.

Although Gu does not own shares of Shanghai Pharma, he had stock options until the end of the second quarter of this year. He was given the options for 330,000 shares, accounting for about 1.3 percent of the total stock options the firm granted, according to its semi-annual financial report.

Shanghai Pharma's stock [SHA: 601607] finished 0.8 percent lower at CNY17.87 (USD2.51) in Shanghai today. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell by the same amount.

Editors: Shi Yi, Martin Kadiev