Astrazeneca staff have reacted with joy this week after after drug giant Pzifer dropped its takeover bid.

US company Pfizer announced this week it will not make a further offer to buy AstraZeneca.

Union bosses said Pfizer had not been expecting such ‘ferocious’ opposition to the plans, claiming the news would secure jobs in the town.

Allan Black, of the GMB union which represents workers at Macclesfield and Alderley Park, welcomed the news which he believes will secure jobs.

He said: “We’re glad to see Pfizer has withdrawn. This is good news for AstraZeneca workers. We don’t think Pfizer was expecting the ferocity of the reaction it got to its proposals.”

However, Mr Black warned that Pfizer could launch another takeover bid in six months time, and that the AstraZeneca board could still choose to enter negotiations with the firm.

He said: “In the short term it’s good news for AstraZeneca workers but the board may resume negotiations with Pfizer if the shareholders put pressure on. We will contact shareholders to ask them to take a step back and lobby government to increase its powers to intervene in takeovers. We will continue to fight any future takeover to save Macclesfield jobs.”

Around 2,000 people are employed at the Hurdsfield site with another 2,500 being employed at Alderley Park in Nether Alderley, although this number is set to be reduced to 700 by 2016 when part of the operation is moved to Cambridge.

Pfizer promised to keep ‘sustainable manufacturing facilities’ in Macclesfield if a deal went ahead, but would not commit to maintaining 2,000 jobs.

Ian Read, chairman and CEO of Pfizer, said on Monday: “Following the AstraZeneca board’s rejection of the proposal, Pfizer announces that it does not intend to make an offer for AstraZeneca.

“We continue to believe our final proposal was compelling and represented full value for AstraZeneca based on the information available to us.”

MP David Rutley, pictured, said he was pleased that the deal had not gone ahead.

He said: “Pfizer wasn’t successful in winning shareholder and public support.

“It may return in future but would need to commit to 2,000 jobs and the £120m investment at Hurdsfield announced by AstraZeneca.

“Nothing can happen for three to six months but it’s important AstraZeneca sets out its strategy to make clear to shareholders what it’s doing as an independent company.

“We’ve learned a lot over the last few weeks and have a greater appreciation of the importance of the UK science base.”

Monday’s announcement came after AstraZeneca rejected Pfizer’s final proposed offer of £69bn last week, saying the proposal undervalued the company. All eyes were on AstraZeneca shareholders to see if they would put pressure on the company to reconsider the offer.

Leif Johansson, AstraZeneca chairman, said it had ‘attractive growth prospects’. He said: “AstraZeneca has a culture of innovation, with science at the heart of everything we do. This creates significant value for our shareholders, employees and patients.”