Astra invests £300m in Britain after authorities agrees to spend extra on medicines

AstraZeneca has announced investments worth £300million in Britain after the Government agreed to spend more on medicines.

It marks a partial U-turn after the drugs giant, which is the UK’s largest listed company, resumed plans to spend £200million on its Cambridge site after placing them on pause.

Astra will also spend £100million on a ‘lab of the future’ in Macclesfield.

But it has not revisited its decision to axe a planned £450million vaccine manufacturing site on Merseyside. 

Pharma firms have snubbed Britain in recent years, complaining of NHS charges and a lack of spending on new drugs.

But Astra boss Pascal Soriot said yesterday that the UK was moving in the ‘right direction’ thanks to a trade deal with the US. 

Cash injection: AstraZeneca said it will also spend £100m to build a new ‘lab of the future’ at its Macclesfield facility (pictured)

He said his firm was looking forward to building ‘a strong life sciences sector’.

The UK has told US President Donald Trump that the NHS will spend more on medicines.

Last year Soriot said Astra was cancelling its Merseyside plans as it ‘couldn’t make the business case work and couldn’t make the investment economically viable’.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the group’s plans as ‘a major vote of confidence’ that would ‘future-proof thousands of jobs in Macclesfield and in Cambridge’ – although it is not clear how many jobs will be created.

Astra employs more than 4,000 staff in Cambridge and Macclesfield, 2,000 in London and Luton, as well as 400 on Merseyside.