Astra Sacks Lars Bildman

Astra USA, the US unit of Swedish drug company Astra, has terminated the employment of Lars Bildman as president and chief executive of the company. He was suspended on April 28 pending results of an investigation into allegations of improprieties within the company that occurred during his tenure (Marketletters passim). Mr Bildman chose not to cooperate with the investigation, according to the company.

"Our investigation uncovered management behavior under Mr Bildman that is unacceptable to Astra," said vice president of Astra AB, C G Johansson, who headed the investigating committee.

The investigation uncovered evidence of "inappropriate behavior at company functions" and misuse of company funds, among other things. The firm is cooperating with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in its investigation of allegations of sexual harassment.