AstraZeneca halts £200m Cambridge expansion
AstraZeneca has paused a planned £200m investment at its Cambridge research centre, joining major pharma in delaying UK projects due to funding uncertainties and US pressures.
AstraZeneca has halted its planned £200m expansion at its Cambridge research centre, marking a new setback for the UK pharmaceutical sector.
The project, expected to create 1,000 jobs, was announced in March 2024 by the previous government alongside a Liverpool development, which was later cancelled.
Its decision follows US pharma giant Merck’s withdrawal of a £1bn UK expansion and pressure from the US administration, including President Donald Trump’s threats of high tariffs on drug imports.
An AstraZeneca spokesperson said: “We constantly reassess our investment needs and can confirm our expansion in Cambridge is paused.”
UK spending on medicines has declined from 15% of the NHS budget a decade ago to 9%, while other developed nations allocate between 14% and 20%. Simultaneously, companies are shifting investment to the US, where AstraZeneca pledged $50bn in July for medicines manufacturing and R&D.
Earlier this week, Merck, known as MSD in Europe, abandoned its under-construction UK site in London’s King’s Cross, blaming reduced government support and promising to move life sciences research to the US, cutting UK jobs.
The paused Cambridge plan means none of the £650m in UK investment announced by the last government will proceed. It follows AstraZeneca’s cancellation of a £450m vaccine plant expansion in Merseyside in January after “protracted” talks over reduced government funding.
Pharmaceutical giants cite declining UK public funding and global competition, particularly from US incentives, as reasons for delaying or cancelling major investments.
This topic was reported by BBC News.
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