(Reuters) - The governors of Maryland and Delaware on Thursday sent a letter to Pfizer Inc Chief Executive Officer Ian Read "expressing deep concerns" about the pharmaceutical company's bid to acquire London-based AstraZeneca Plc .
The letter, from Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley and Delaware Governor Jack Markell, questions the impact of the deal on jobs in both states as well as PFIZER (PFE.NY)s open interest in relocating its corporate base to Britain to lower its federal taxes.
AstraZeneca employs around 3,100 people in Maryland, and around 2,600 people in Delaware, according to the letter.
AstraZeneca has rejected successive approaches from its larger American rival, which is offering $106 billion for Britain's second-largest drugs company.
In the U.K., the potential deal has also raised fears that resulting cost cutting would see the loss of thousands of skilled jobs, undermining that nation's science base.
To reassure the British government about its proposal, Pfizer has promised the combined company would keep 20 percent of its research and development workforce in the country. It also vowed to complete construction of a research center planned by AstraZeneca in Cambridge, England, and retain a manufacturing plant in the northern town of Macclesfield.
(Reporting By Deena Beasley; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)