How British is AstraZeneca? Yet a $106 billion takeover bid from U.S. group Pfizer has forced politicians at Westminster to line up in defense of British jobs and science. The pharmaceuticals group, which is fighting the approach, is an important science anchor for Britain and has close ties to top universities. Of the top 10 medicines sold by AstraZeneca, three – all for cancer – were invented in its labs near Manchester, four came from Sweden, one from its U.S. research site, one from the U.S. biotech industry and one from Japan.