Skip to main content

In 'challenging point' Brexit trade negotiations, British minister says

LONDON (Reuters) - Brexit trade negotiations are in a difficult process, and only if the European Union understands that Britain is a sovereign nation will an agreement be reached, said Business Secretary Alok Sharma.

"We're at a critical stage," Sky TV told Sharma. "It is fair to say that we are in a difficult phase, that there are still some difficult problems to solve."

"We have always said right from the beginning of this process that only if the EU recognizes that the UK is a sovereign independent nation can an agreement be reached," Sharma said. "It is on the basis of that a deal will be done."

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The CEO of AstraZeneca plans to conduct the latest global COVID-19 vaccine trial: Bloomberg

(Reuters) - An additional global trial to test the effectiveness of its COVID-19 vaccine using a lower dose is likely to be conducted by AstraZeneca, its chief executive was quoted as saying on Thursday amid concerns about the outcome of its late-stage review. AstraZeneca could start a new study to test a lower dose of its vaccine that worked better than a full dosage, Pascal Soriot told Bloomberg News, instead of adding the trial to an existing U.S. phase. "We have to validate this now that we have discovered what looks like a better efficacy, so we need to do an additional study," he said, adding that the latest, likely global, study could be quicker because it would require less subjects as the effectiveness was already established to be high. The news comes as AstraZeneca faces concerns about its success rate that some analysts claim could impede its chances of securing rapid regulatory approval from the U.S. and EU. Several scientists have raised concerns about the r

AstraZeneca to purchase Alexion to grow in immunology for $39 billion

FRANKFURT (Reuters) -Britain's AstraZeneca has agreed to buy U.S. drugmaker Alexion Pharmaceuticals in the biggest transaction ever for $39 billion, diversifying its fast-growing cancer sector in a gamble on medicines for rare diseases and immunology. The deal comes a week after AstraZeneca said it was undertaking more testing to confirm whether its COVID-19 vaccine could be 90% successful, potentially delaying its introduction, and was introduced in Britain as a competing shot from Pfizer and approved for use in the United States . On Saturday, the British company said Alexion shareholders will receive $60 in cash and around $115 worth of equity per share - either in ordinary shares exchanged in the UK by AstraZeneca or in American Depositary Shares denominated in dollars. That implies a total price of $175 per share based on a reference average ADR price of $54.14. Alexion shares closed on Friday at about $121 apiece. "It's a tremendous opportunity for us to accelera