BRUSSELS: The EU said Thursday it had given the green light for US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer’s $43-billion acquisition of biotech firm Seagen, specialising in innovative cancer treatment.

The European Commission, the bloc’s powerful anti-trust authority, said it had “unconditionally approved” the transaction after a market investigation.

It said the deal did not raise competition concerns and would not negatively impact prices of treatments.

Pfizer announced in March its deal with Seagen, which is based in Washington state and leads in the research, development and commercialisation of cancer treatments.

The firm came to major drugmakers’ attention with its work on antibody-drug conjugates that are “designed to preferentially kill cancer cells”.