Pfizer's science vows to Britain: promise or placebo?

By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc's effort to sweeten its bid for Britain's AstraZenaca Plc with commitments on research, manufacturing and jobs is claimed as a coup by the UK government, but many are deeply skeptical. Pfizer Chief Executive Ian Read wrote to Prime Minster David Cameron giving a five-year commitment to complete a new research center in Cambridge, retain a factory in Macclesfield, and put a fifth of its research staff in Britain. Yet five years is not long at all in an industry like pharmaceuticals, with 10 to 15 year product cycles, and Pfizer made clear it could "adjust these obligations should circumstances significantly change". Britain has been burnt before on foreign takeovers - notably Kraft Foods Group Inc's 2010 acquisition of Cadbury, when the U.S. firm promised to keep open a key factory, only to renege on that soon after the deal was completed.



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