Pfizer has agreed to buy an antibiotics business from AstraZeneca for $725m (€640m) as well as other payouts, settling for one piece of a company it once tried to acquire.

Drug giant AstraZeneca has agreed to buy US firm ZS Pharma in a $2.7bn (€2.5bn) cash 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.

The bosses of drugs giants Pfizer and AstraZeneca face another round of questioning from MPs in Britain today over the US firm’s takeover bid.