Ann McKechin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ann McKechin on 2014-05-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions either orally or in writing he or his Ministers or officials in his Department have had with (a) Pfizer and (b) AstraZeneca in the last two months regarding any bid for AstraZeneca.

Mr David Willetts

There are ongoing interactions at senior level between Ministers in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and senior executives from both AstraZeneca and Pfizer as part of the Department’s wider interactions with the Life Sciences industry.

BIS Ministers have spoken with the Chief Executives and others from both companies in the last couple of weeks about recent market developments including the approaches from Pfizer to AstraZeneca.