Astrazeneca ploughs £300m into UK in surprise U-turn
British drugs giant Astrazeneca has promised to plough £300m into its UK operations, just months after cancelling a nine-figure investment in a new lab after getting in a spat with the UK government over drug pricing.
In a stunning volte-face, the UK’s largest pharmaceutical company said it would revive its £200m investment into a megalab in Cambridge as well and a further £100m into its site in Macclesfield in one of the largest investment programmes in UK drugmaking history.
Last September, Astrazeneca put its totemic Cambridge project on ice after an almighty row erupted between British drugmakers and the government over the price the NHS pays for drugs and the health service’s approach to new medicines.
The feud caused a wave of pharmaceutical firms – a jewel in the crown of British industry – to cancel or pause investment in the UK. A week after Astrazeneca’s announcement, US pharma giant Merck revealed it would scrap plans for a £1bn research centre in London. Meanwhile GSK, Britain’s second-largest homegrown drugmaker, pledged to invest $30bn (£22bn) in a move many investors interpreted as a broadside to the UK.
Starma hails Astrazeneca decision
But as part of the UK’s recently inked trade deal with the US, Keir Starmer agreed to pay more for medicine in Britain, bringing the prices in line with Donald Trump’s aggressive new pricing policies. The agreement, which was finalised earlier this month as part of the wider negotiations, made the UK the only country with tariff-free access for drugs to the US, the government said.
Keir Starmer branded Astrazeneca’s U-turn a “major vote of confidence in the UK”. Announcing the decision in parliament, the Prime Minister said: “Today I can announce a significant new investment, by Astrazeneca, investing £300m in UK life sciences, made possible by the pharmaceutical arrangement we have struck with the United States, to future-proof thousands of jobs in Macclesfield and in Cambridge.”
Pascal Soirot, Astrazeneca’s veteran chief executive, praised ministers “for their effort to improve access for patients, including four new approvals since the beginning of the year”.
The announcement followed the pharmaceutical giant beating estimates in its first quarter results, thanks to strong demand for cancer and rare-disease drugs. Revenue climbed by some eight per cent over the first three months of the year, but the drugmaker also warned the US’s steep tariffs on pharma products could hamper drug launches elsewhere.
The fresh investment unveiled on Thursday will future-proof as many as 1,000 jobs across both Cambridge and Macclesfield, Starmer said.
The cash will allow Astrazeneca to complete construction on the Rosalind Frank building in East Anglia, while the site in the Manchester satellite town will become a “lab of the future” using digital and data innovation to improve drug development, the company said.