Pfizer defends plan to acquire AstraZeneca

Pfizer defended the business case behind its plan to acquire AstraZeneca yesterday and questioned the UK company’s ability to stand alone for much longer as the US group’s CEO prepared for a grilling from British MPs.

Pfizer said its agreement to complete AstraZeneca’s research centre in Cambridge, retain a factory in northwest England, and put a fifth of its research staff in Britain if the deal goes ahead, were legally binding.

The comments are Pfizer’s latest counter to critics of its proposed £60bn (€73.5bn) deal, which would be the largest foreign takeover of a British firm and is opposed by many scientists and politicians — as well as AstraZeneca itself.