Pfizer announces takeover of Hospira

Pfizer has announced the acquisition of Hospira, the world's leading provider of injectable drugs and infusion technologies, and a major player in the field of biosimilars.

The deal has been valued at $17 billion (11.1 billion pounds) and has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies. It is expected to greatly expand the capabilities of Pfizer's global established pharmaceutical business.

Both sterile injectables and biosimilars are large and growing categories, with Hospira's capabilities and strategy deemed to be complementary to Pfizer's existing activities in these fields.

The transaction is expected to close in the second half of the year and will help Hospira to benefit from Pfizer's greater global reach and scale.

Ian Read, chairman and chief executive officer at Pfizer, said: "The proposed acquisition of Hospira demonstrates our commitment to prudently deploy capital to create shareholder value and deliver incremental revenue and earnings per share growth in the near term."

This comes after the firm last month acquired a controlling interest in Redvax, a spin-off from the privately held Swiss biopharmaceutical company Redbiotec.