Three biotech giants have made decisive moves to pull investment from the UK.
AstraZeneca, Merck and Eli Lilly have all scrapped or frozen investment activities in the United Kingdom in the last few weeks.
This past weekend, AstraZeneca paused plans for a £200m expansion at its research site in Cambridge. The vaccine expert also abandoned plans for a £450m vaccine plant in Merseyside in January.
US pharmaceutical giant Merck (known in Europe as MSD due to a company with the same name in Germany) has also announced that it will not proceed with a planned £1 billion expansion of its UK operations. The BBC reported that Merck had already begun construction on a site in London's King's Cross, which was due to be completed by 2027, but said it “no longer planned to occupy it”.
In a similar vein to AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly has also paused work on its UK biotech innovation incubator ’Gateway Labs’.
AstraZeneca has remained vague on the reasons behind the decision. However, MSD has cited issues with government life science investment.
NHS spend on drugs is far lower per person than the US due to its combined bargaining power
The company stated it will relocate its life sciences research to the US and cut UK jobs, blaming successive governments for undervaluing innovative medicines.
For Eli Lilly, the company has pointed to low NHS spend.
The issue has been heavily emphasised due to the ongoing tariffs and efforts of Donald Trump in the US. The leader has been making moves recently to try to promote domestic manufacturing and drive prices up outside the US, with the theory that this would reduce the burden on the US system and lower prices.
Though the UK is strong in research, the NHS spend on drugs is far lower per person than the US due to its combined bargaining power. The US has a far more fragmented insurance-based system that pays higher prices for drugs on average.
In line with this, Eli Lilly announced in mid-August that it would increase the price of its headline-making drug Mounjaro for the UK and that it would be making “concrete steps” to lower US prices.
AstraZeneca also announced in July that it would invest $50bn in the US by 2030.
Whilst Merck and AstraZeneca have left the door open for uncertainties to be resolved. Merck’s decision seems more final.
Speaking in the House of Commons, the UK’s Science Minister Ian Murray said Merck's decision was "deeply disappointing" but "a commercial decision".
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