Pfizer vows to ringfence key drugs in takeover deal

Pfizer said it would ringfence the development of important drugs if it acquired AstraZeneca — rejecting a charge from the British firm that a takeover would disrupt important research and put lives at risk.

“As we put these companies together, we will continue with our pipeline, AZ will continue with theirs,” Pfizer’s CEO Ian Read told MPs on a second day of questioning about what could be the biggest ever UK corporate deal.

He said: “There is absolutely no truth to any comment that some products of critical nature would be delayed getting to patients, if anything we would accelerate that to patients.”

AstraZeneca said on Tuesday Pfizer’s proposal risked disrupting its research and delaying getting life-saving new drugs to market, as well as undervaluing the business.

On a second day in the parliament, Mr Read faced calls from a committee of MPs and other speakers for Pfizer to extend its commitment to UK jobs and research from five years to 10 or more. “I would like to see a longer period than that [five years],” science minister David Willetts told the committee.

British prime minister David Cameron said he was seeking the best possible guarantees from Pfizer.

“This government has been absolutely clear that the right thing to do is get stuck in to seek the best possible guarantees on British jobs, on British investment, and British science,” he told the House of Commons yesterday.

The US boss had earlier defended his five-year horizon, saying it was enough time to select medicines that had the greatest chance of approval and the biggest opportunity to meet the needs of patients.

Pfizer has indicated that it could raise its offer for Astra- Zeneca from £63bn (€77bn), if it is prepared to talk, but lawmakers are deeply concerned about the impact of a takeover on the country’s science base.

Mr Read said there would likely be fewer scientists in a newly combined company but he declined to put any numbers on it.

— Reuters