SEOUL - SWISS pharmaceuticals giant Roche and banking titan HSBC are among foreign firms being probed in South Korea for alleged involvement in illegal sales of swine flu treatment, officials said Friday.
The Korea Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it raided the Seoul office of Tamiflu maker Roche Holdings on Wednesday and seized computer files and other documents.
'Roche is under investigation as part of our probe into illegal Tamiflu sales and purchases,' FDA spokesman Ahn Man-Ho told AFP.
The raid followed an investigation which began in May into local hospitals, drugstores and companies accused of selling or stocking up Tamiflu illegally, he said. South Korean laws ban large-scale drug purchases by non-medical professionals without doctors' prescriptions. Violators could face up to five years in prison.
The agency said Roche is suspected of helping the Korean units of London-based banking giant HSBC Holdings and Novartis of Switzerland to buy large stocks of Tamiflu.
HSBC and Novartis were found to have bought enough for more than 5,900 people, it said. 'We have already asked prosecutors to start a criminal investigation into HSBC and Novartis,' Mr Ahn said. -- AFP
