AstraZeneca, the U.K.’s largest company by market capitalization, has paused a planned £200 million ($271 million) expansion of its Cambridge research campus, marking another high-profile retreat by a major drugmaker from Britain. The project, first announced in March 2024, was expected to create roughly 1,000 jobs at one of the country’s leading life sciences hubs.
A company spokesperson confirmed the decision after questions were raised about AstraZeneca’s investment plans in light of rival Merck & Co.’s withdrawal from a new London research center earlier this week. “We constantly reassess the investment needs of our company and can confirm our expansion in Cambridge is paused. We have no further comment to make,” the spokesperson said. The move effectively halts all of AstraZeneca’s new U.K. funding initiatives for now.
It is the second major pullback in less than a year. In January, AstraZeneca scrapped plans to invest £450 million in a vaccine manufacturing plant in northern England, citing a reduction in British government support. Merck, meanwhile, has pointed to what it calls the U.K.’s “challenging business environment” as it abandoned its own research project in London.
The timing will be a disappointment for Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government, which is seeking to revive investment in a stagnant economy just days before U.S. President Donald Trump’s state visit to Britain. Trump has repeatedly criticized European countries for, in his view, underpaying for drugs and undervaluing pharmaceutical innovation, and his administration’s tariff policies have spurred several global drugmakers to shift resources toward the United States.
AstraZeneca itself announced in July that it would invest $50 billion to expand manufacturing and research capacity in the U.S. by 2030—a stark contrast to its slowdown in Britain. Chief Executive Pascal Soriot has previously urged U.K. policymakers to improve the environment for businesses in order to attract and retain major investments.
The pause underscores the pressures facing Britain’s life sciences sector, once seen as a crown jewel of the country’s post-Brexit economy, and adds to a growing list of pharmaceutical companies rethinking their U.K. footprint. Whether the Cambridge project resumes will depend on future policy signals, regulatory clarity, and the government’s ability to reassure global firms that the U.K. remains a competitive place to innovate.
($1 = £0.7373)
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