Why AstraZeneca’s French CEO Pascal Soriot is a fine British patriot

It’s ironic that it took a Frenchman to do it, but AstraZeneca’s $39 billion bid for Alexion should give some heart to those of us fretting about Brexit.

Pascal Soriot’s megadeal marks a stunning turnaround for a proudly British business which only six years ago faced extinction from a hostile takeover by Pfizer.

That deal, almost universally opposed by Britain’s drugs industry, could have deprived the world of one of the two Covid vaccines the predator and prey have now independently developed.  

It would definitely have stolen from shareholders the 87% rise in Astra’s share price Soriot has overseen since. That muscular stock price now gives him the ability to buy Alexion for cash and Astra shares.

There are critics today fretting that Soriot is doing the deal for short-term financial rather than strategic reasons. The theory is that he just wants profit margins from Alexion’s high-priced medicines to get him out of a short-term hole in Astra earnings.

It’s true, the deal does come off a disappointing set of quarterly profits for Astra. And it will have the happy side effect of helping Soriot meet the $40 billion revenue target he set himself during his Pfizer defence.

But there’s more to this deal than financial engineering. 

Astra will benefit long term by pushing Alexion’s rare disease cures through its established Chinese network, and will emerge stronger with the diversification from its cancer blockbusters.

Astra’s tech will add a new dimension to Alexion’s drug development, too.