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A significant setback has hit the UK pharmaceutical industry as AstraZeneca has decided to pause a planned £200 million investment at a research site in Cambridge. This project was expected to generate 1,000 jobs and was initially announced in March 2024 by the previous government. This decision comes following the shelving of another project in Liverpool earlier in the year.
The pause in the Cambridge expansion is part of a larger trend where pharmaceutical companies are shifting their investment focus to the US. This move comes in response to President Donald Trump’s pressure on firms to increase their investments in the country. AstraZeneca’s decision mirrors that of US pharmaceutical giant Merck, which recently canceled a £1 billion expansion in the UK due to perceived lack of government support.
The pharmaceutical industry in the UK has faced challenges, with spending on medicines decreasing from 15% to 9% of the NHS budget over the last decade. In contrast, other developed nations allocate between 14% and 20% of their budgets to healthcare. AstraZeneca had previously announced plans to invest $50 billion in the US for manufacturing and research, further emphasizing the shift in priorities away from the UK.
Despite the UK government’s efforts to promote the life sciences sector as a vital industry for the country’s economy and well-being, successive governments have struggled to retain investments from major pharmaceutical companies. AstraZeneca’s decision to pause its Cambridge expansion and its prior cancellation of a vaccine manufacturing plant expansion in Merseyside reflect the challenges facing the pharmaceutical industry in the UK. Former government officials have praised the industry’s importance, but recent developments suggest a need for increased government support to maintain investments in the sector
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