Pharma giant threatens to pull investment from UK
British-Swedish pharmaceutical multinational AstraZeneca could halt further investment in the UK unless the government reforms its drug pricing policies, the company’s local chairman has said, as cited by The Telegraph. The pharma giant has already delayed or abandoned projects worth hundreds of millions of pounds, citing an increasingly unattractive commercial environment in the country.
Shaun Grady pointed to what he called an outdated and restrictive pricing system used by the National Health Service, including spending caps and high rebate rates on branded medicines, as a key factor deterring investment. The top executive argued that the UK is falling behind in adopting medical innovation, making it a less viable destination for global pharmaceutical expansion.
“We’ve [the UK] failed to keep pace on medicine investment over the years,” he was quoted as saying at the Conservative Party conference.
Grady added that unless the commercial landscape improves, the UK is in danger of disappearing from the list of attractive global destinations. He also noted that outdated cost-effectiveness models used to approve new treatments have not been revised for 25 years, calling the situation “pretty appalling.”
Last month, AstraZeneca, which has the biggest market capitalization on the FTSE 100, paused a planned £200 million ($271.26 million) upgrade of its Cambridge research site that had been expected to create 1,000 jobs. Earlier this year, the company scrapped plans to invest £450 million (over $600 million) in a vaccine manufacturing plant in northern England, citing a reduction in government funding.
The decision places all £650 million of AstraZeneca’s UK investment package, announced in 2024, at risk of being shelved, The Telegraph reported, adding that the UK government hasn’t commented on the issue so far.
Grady also contrasted the UK’s slow-moving bureaucracy with the responsiveness of US authorities. He highlighted how AstraZeneca met with the governor of Virginia and announced a £50 billion ($67 billion) US investment just 33 days later. He described the American approach as a “concierge service” and urged London to adopt a similarly competitive and agile strategy to attract global investment.
