LONDON:

British drugs giant Astra Zeneca on Wednesday agreed to sell part of its antibiotics business to US giant Pfizer for up to $1.6 billion (1.4 billion euros).

The deal for the company’s small molecule antibiotics, or those developed using traditional chemistry, is expected to complete in the fourth quarter, AstraZ eneca said in a statement.

The news comes days after Pfizer bought San Francisco-based biotech firm Medivation, which specialises in cancer treatments, for $14 billion.