GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has said that some of its executives in China appeared to have broken the law as part of a major bribery scandal that has ensnared the UK pharmaceutical firm.
The news comes as rival UK drugmaker AstraZeneca has confirmed to Sky News its Shanghai office has also been visited by Chinese investigators.
GSK said that new proposed changes to its operations would result in lower prices of its medicines in China - an original issue and complaint made by authorities.
"Certain senior executives of GSK China, who know our systems well, appear to have acted outside of our processes and controls which breaches Chinese law," the firm's head of emerging markets, Abbas Hussain, said in a statement.
Mr Hussain, who was sent to China last week to lead GSK's response to the crisis, held a meeting with the Ministry of Public Security at which he also promised to review GSK's business model.
"Savings made as a result of proposed changes to our operational model will be passed on in the form of price reductions, ensuring our medicines are more affordable to Chinese patients," Mr Hussain added.
Meanwhile, AstraZeneca (AZ) believes the Shanghai investigation police launched relates to enquiries on a single employee.
GSK boss Sir Andrew Witty In a statement given to Sky News, it said: "AstraZeneca can confirm that it was visited by the Shanghai Public Security Bureau ... regarding a local police matter focused on a sales representative.
"We believe that this investigation relates to an individual case and while we have not yet received and update from the Public Security Bureau, we have no reason to believe it's related to any other investigations."
In mid-afternoon trades on the FTSE 100 GSK shares were down 1.37% while AZ shares were down 0.47%. Both eased slightly before the close.
GSK initially denied any wrongdoing when police first announced an investigation into the company's Chinese operation.
Authorities alleged that more than £200m was funnelled to hundreds of travel agents in the country, which was then given to doctors, hospitals and health foundations as travel kickbacks.
Chinese police last week accused GSK of bribing officials and doctors to boost sales and raise the price of its medicines in China.
They said GSK transferred up to 3bn yuan (£232m) to 700 travel agencies and consultancies over six years.
Four senior Chinese executives from GSK have been detained and it said it was deeply concerned by the allegations, which it called "shameful".
In a statement, China's Ministry of Public Security said Mr Hussain apologised for the scandal during the meeting.
Mr Hussain was dispatched to China by chief executive Sir Andrew Witty, along with the group's global head of internal audit and a senior legal official on Friday, according to sources.
The CEO is expected to further detail what action the drugmaker is taking in response to the bribery allegations when he presents quarterly results on Wednesday.
The company has run into problems despite conducting up to 20 internal audits in China each year, resulting in the sacking of dozens of staff for misconduct.
In 2012, GSK dismissed 312 staff for policy violations worldwide, according to its annual corporate responsibility report, of which 56 were in China.
There has been widespread speculation that other multinational drug companies would be drawn into the corruption investigations.
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) - China's powerful economic planning agency which sets and enforces drug prices - has announced the sector.
The NDRC said it would establish a web platform to monitor the pricing behaviour of drugs distributors, but has so far given few details.
Since 2000, the NDRC has made three rounds of adjustments on the maximum retail prices for medicines, the agency said in a statement posted on its website.
Those efforts were geared toward preventing a rise in prices.
"The next step is to establish an online platform for medicine factory price monitoring, and strengthen monitoring of distributors' pricing behaviour," the statement said, citing an unnamed official.
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