Pfizer presses AstraZeneca case, CEO faces UK grilling
The Pfizer world headquarters in Manhattan in New York City. Pfizer, the global pharmaceutical compan y, is pressing ahead on its proposed takeover of Britain ’s AstraZeneca. – AFP
LONDON: US drugmaker Pfizer pressed the scientific case for its controversial plan to acquire AstraZeneca as its chief executive prepared for a grilling from British lawmakers.
In the latest phase of Pfizer’s campaign to counter critics of its proposed US$106bil deal, research head Mikael Dolsten said he had been through five different mergers and acquisitions and denied such big transactions disrupted drug research.
”If you keep your sense of curiosity and an open mind, you can learn tremendously,” he said in a video posted on the company’s website yesterday.
”We must stay laser-focused on our important projects. And that’s, of course, true for Pfizer scientists and AZ scientists and will be true also if we can make a potential combination come together.” British lawmakers are due to quiz Dolsten’s boss, Scottish-born chief executive Ian Read, on May 13 about his plans to acquire Britain’s second-biggest pharmaceuticals business – a deal driven in large part by Pfizer’s wish to cut its tax bill.
They will also interrogate AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot and business ministerVince Cable.
A second parliamentary committee on May 14 will question both CEOs again about the science aspects of the deal, along with Pfizer’s Dolsten and science ministerDavid Willetts.
Buying AstraZeneca would be the largest foreign takeover of a British firm. Pfizer’s approach has been rejected by AstraZeneca and the idea of a merger is opposed by many scientists and some politicians who fear it would damage the country’s science base.
Dolsten said there was “a really great fit” with the products that AstraZeneca had in its portfolio, with potential for combining drugs in areas such as lung cancer to offer much more effective treatments.
Pfizer has given a five-year commitment to complete AstraZeneca’s new research centre in Cambridge, retain a factory in the northwestern English town of Macclesfield and put a fifth of its research staff in Britain if the deal goes ahead.
But the US firm has also said it could adjust those promises if circumstances change “significantly”, prompting demands for more watertight pledges.
Prime Minister David Cameron said on Sunday he had made “very good progress” in securing guarantees from Pfizer.
However, Dolsten’s remarks contained no new pledges on preserving British science jobs. – Reuters
