Pfizer and AstraZeneca

Lord Patel Excerpts

Tuesday 6th May 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Popat]

My Lords, AstraZeneca is a global company with activities around the world. It has a strong Anglo-Swedish heritage. It is not 100% British-owned, having a large number of shareholders right across the world. It is a business that brings expertise from both the UK and the US. It has a French CEO and a Swedish chairman. Yes, it supplies drugs to the NHS and makes a very good contribution in that respect, but I am sure that if the deal goes through we will watch very closely to make sure that we protect ourselves. It will go through the Competition Commission. The deal will also go through the European Commission to make sure that this takeover is in the best interests of this country, taxpayers and the public.

[Lord Patel (CB)]

My Lords, the history of acquisitions in the pharma industry is that R&D facilities are shut down. AstraZeneca has developed a very strong collaborative culture with scientists, working particularly in the life sciences, in drug development. What effect will the merger have on our science base and the excellent facilities that AstraZeneca has for drug development?

[Lord Popat]

I agree with the noble Lord that AstraZeneca does some of the best research in this country. This is why it is in our interests to make sure that if the merger does take place, we will scrutinise everything that is being put forward by Pfizer to our Government. As I said earlier, the NHS makes very good use of this company when it comes to research and development.