By Billy Gray

AstraZeneca paused plans to invest 200 million pounds ($271.2 million) in a U.K. research facility, marking a setback for the country's pharmaceutical sector.

This represents the latest move by a major drugmaker to freeze or shelve planned investments in the U.K. as the industry seeks a more favorable commercial environment, with pressure mounting from the U.S. Trump administration to cut the cost of drugs for Americans.

"We constantly reassess the investment needs of our company and can confirm our expansion in Cambridge is paused," an AstraZeneca spokesperson said Monday.

The company, Britain's biggest by market capitalization, disclosed the Cambridge plans in March 2024 along with a project in Liverpool, England, which it scrapped in January. Between those two announcements, the pharmaceutical group canceled or suspended 650 million pounds in planned U.K. investments that it had previously said would improve the country's public health and pandemic preparedness.

AstraZeneca's change of plans is the latest blow to the U.K. pharmaceutical industry. U.S. pharma giant Merck recently said it discontinued plans for a new research center in London, citing lack of investment in the life-science industry and undervaluation of innovative medicines and vaccines by successive U.K. governments.

Executives at pharma companies have called on European governments to allow for commercial terms that better reward their innovation efforts.

"First and foremost, we need to create a commercial environment that rewards pharmaceutical innovation fairly and brings its benefits rapidly to U.K. patients," the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry's chief executive, Richard Torbett, said last week.

The calls come at a time when the industry is dealing with uncertainty in the U.S. after President Trump in late July sent letters to 17 pharma companies--including AstraZeneca--asking them to cut the costs of drugs for U.S. consumers to the lowest price offered in other developed nations.

Pharma research-and-development investment in the U.K. lagged behind global trends in recent years, rising at an annual pace of 1.9% since 2020 compared with global average growth of 6.6% a year, according to a recent report by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Write to Billy Gray at william.gray@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 15, 2025 03:35 ET (07:35 GMT)

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