FT: AstraZeneca investors turn up the heat under CEO Brennan

The Financial Times has been taking the temperature of some of AstraZeneca's ($AZN) biggest investors, and the newspaper reports that it's reaching feverish proportions as CEO David Brennan continues to reject calls for some sizable acquisitions and deal-making. "The chief executive is under intense pressure," says one investor, as speculation begins to ramp up over when Brennan may step down and who would step in. Some analysts, meanwhile, have delivered a scathing assessment of the company's lackluster response to generic competition and R&D setbacks. For some, desperate times demand desperate actions. Story