AstraZeneca’s biggest shareholder has backed the drugmaker’s efforts to resist a £63 billion takeover by Pfizer, even as David Cameron indicated he would not obstruct the largest foreign acquisition of a UK company.

Neil Woodford, the high-profile fund manager who manages just under 10 per cent of AstraZeneca, said it was a “classic case of short-term interests versus long-term interests. There is short-term profit for shareholders through a deal, but there is more value in this company in the long term as a single entity.”

The intervention promised to stiffen AstraZeneca’s resolve against an increased £50 per share indicative offer made by Pfizer yesterday to create the world’s largest drugmaker. Pascal Soriot, AstraZenenca’s chief executive, said the offer undervalued its pipeline of experimental drugs, including promising cancer treatments.

The board quickly reached a unanimous decision not to enter talks with Pfizer after meeting early yesterday, he said. The US drugmaker has until May 26th to decide whether to increase its offer to coax AstraZeneca to the table, press ahead with a hostile bid – or walk away.– (Copyright 2014 The Financial Times Limited)