London (AFP) – British drugs giant AstraZeneca on Wednesday agreed to sell part of its antibiotics business to US giant Pfizer for up to $1.6 billion (1.4 billion euros).
The deal for the company’s small-molecule antibiotics, or those developed using traditional chemistry, is expected to complete in the fourth quarter, AstraZeneca said in a statement.
The news comes days after Pfizer bought San Francisco-based biotech firm Medivation, which specialises in cancer treatments, for $14 billion.
Pfizer has been an aggressive and not always successful architect of large deals over the last couple of years.
Back in 2014, AstraZeneca had rejected a $116-billion takeover bid from Pfizer after a lengthy unsolicited courtship.
And in April 2016, Pfizer axed a proposed $160-billion merger with Allergan after the US Treasury set new rules designed to block cross-border deals that are structured to avoid US taxes.
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