During that time, he helped put the finishing touches on a $39 billion acquisition, while also parrying concerns over the much-anticipated Covid-19 vaccine AstraZeneca developed with the University of Oxford. That two such important developments should emerge while he was in confinement shows how crucial this moment is for the drugmaker and for Soriot's legacy. Not even the chief executive officer of one of Britain’s most valuable companies can escape the pandemic’s grasp. But Soriot didn’t let it slow him down.
“Only Pascal Soriot would try to pull off a deal of this size while also working on a Covid-19 vaccine,” said Ketan Patel, a fund manager at EdenTree Investment Management Ltd., which holds AstraZeneca shares. “The move will reassure investors that the vaccine effort hasn’t distracted Astra from its future growth plans.”

AstraZeneca announced Saturday it plans to buy rare-disease specialist Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. in a cash-and-stock deal to add treatments for uncommon blood and immunological disorders. 

Soriot, whose quarantine ended in the early part of last week, described the acquisition on a call with reporters as “an important step in the history of the company.” 

--Bloomberg--