AstraZeneca boss David Brennan has an excuse for missing his third-quarter results today, jetting to Beijing to join the advisory board of the Tsinghua School of Economics and Management. The Chinese institution has been a hot ticket for western chairman and CEOs in recent years with Goldman Sachs' Lloyd Blankfein, Blackstone's Steve Schwarzman and K-Mart's Lee Scott among more than 40 big names. While Mr Brennan is away, finance director Simon Lowth is minding the drugstore.

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