AstraZeneca should stick to its winning formula. It doesn’t need a $400bn US mega-merger

The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker’s flirtation with a grand combo with US group Bristol Myers Squibb is baffling • AstraZeneca shares fall 8.9% over merger talks with US cancer drug firm Sir Pascal Soriot, chief executive of AstraZeneca, starts with huge credit in the bank, obviously. His long tenure has been a triumph, starting with the against-the-odds victory over Pfizer’s charmless accountants in 2014 . The $39bn (£29bn) purchase of Alexion in 2021 looked a little over-priced at the time, but you could see how it sat well with Soriot’s sermons on the importance of backing science. The deal got A