Graft: "There's going to be a learning curve for companies that in some cases are going to come out with bloody noses,"

Federal investigators are looking at ways that drug makers could be paying bribes overseas to boost sales and speed approvals, according to letters sent to the companies and people close to the matter.

Big companies—including Merck & Co., AstraZeneca PLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and GlaxoSmithKline PLC—in recent months have disclosed they are being investigated for possible violations of a 1977 law that makes it illegal for companies whose stock is traded in the U.S. to bribe government officials in other countries to get business.

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