The EU approval comes after the merger has already been okayed by the US, Japan and a number of other countries around the world, and AZ says it is now hoping to completing the transaction by the end of this quarter. Shareholders of both companies voted in favour of the acquisition at meetings held in May.
Prior to the US approval of the deal there had been speculation that an increasingly challenging antitrust environment for M&A – with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) pledging to look closely at biopharma deals in particular – might lead to it being blocked or saddled with onerous conditions.
