Government’s plans in disarray before Trump talks as MSD, Eli Lilly and AstraZeneca moves prompt job fears
Big pharmaceutical companies have ditched or paused nearly £2bn in planned UK investments so far this year, causing “suffering” to patients, as ministers gear up for discussions with Donald Trump amid a row over drug pricing.
The government’s plan for the life science sector, a key pillar of the economy, has been thrown into disarray, after US drugmaker MSD’s shock announcement last Wednesday that it would scrap its £1bn London research centre. Two days later, AstraZeneca decided to halt a planned £200m expansion of its research facilities in Cambridge.
Combined with a scrapped project by AstraZeneca in Liverpool and a shelved Eli Lilly lab in London, four projects worth more than £1.7bn have been pulled or paused this year. In total, decisions over 13 major projects or companies have damaged the UK’s pharma industry since 2022, also including site closures and stock market delistings.
Pharma companies have accused the government of not spending enough on new medicines, arguing that there is little incentive for them to develop drugs and test them in a country that does not value innovation sufficiently.
