Britain’s AstraZeneca has agreed to buy US drug maker Alexion Pharmaceuticals for $39 billion in its largest- ever deal to bolster its positions in immunology and rare diseases.

Britain’s AstraZeneca has agreed to buy US drug maker Alexion Pharmaceuticals for $39 billion in its largest- ever deal to bolster its positions in immunology and rare diseases. The deal comes in a week that AstraZeneca said it was conducting further research to confirm whether its Covid vaccine could be 90% effective, potentially slowing its rollout, and as a rival shot from Pfizer was launched in Britain and approved for use in the US.“It’s a tremendous opportunity for us to accelerate our development in immunology, getting into a new segment of disease, a new segment of physicians and patients we haven’t been able to cover so far,” AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said. reuters