(Feb 7): The boss of AstraZeneca plc said he does not believe the UK is the worst place to invest, striking a conciliatory tone just days after the company axed a £450 million (RM2.49 billion) investment in a vaccine plant in Britain.
 
Pascal Soriot, chief executive officer of the UK’s biggest drugmaker, was responding to reports that the company’s relationship with the new Labour government has soured, with Britain being seen as having the most unattractive life sciences investment environment in the Western world. 

“Lots of people like to make up stories and I don’t like to use the term but I think it’s appropriate to say, some people like to make fake news,” said Soriot, in answer to questions from journalists after releasing better-than-expected fourth quarter earnings. “I don’t believe that the UK is the worst environment for investment in our industry.”

Astra gave up on the Liverpool vaccines hub because it simply could not make the “business case work,” said Soriot, even after months of negotiations and an increase in its planned investment from £450 million to more than £500 million. 

The drugmaker needed a level of state support that the government could not provide, which “we totally understand,” said Soriot. He said there was “no link” between its pullback and a UK decision not to reimburse Astra’s oncology drug Enhertu for some breast cancer patients.

“People have really tried to make all sorts of complications and stories out of it. I mean it’s very simple. There’s no issue, there’s no tension or anything,” he said. 

However, the government said it offered less state funding because Astra cut its planned spending on research and development at the vaccines facility to about £90 million from £150 million, Science Minister Chris Bryant told Parliament on Monday. 

“Spending taxpayers’ money has to be proven to deliver value for money,” Bryant said, adding that the return has to be greater than the amount the government puts in. He said the UK would not try to re-negotiate with Astra. 

A global CEO survey by PwC released earlier this year found that the UK was the second most important country for international investment, a point Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves has pushed. 

“You look at the UK compared to other jurisdictions and we are a better place to invest,” she said, in an interview with Bloomberg News editor-in-chief John Micklethwait in Davos. 

Astra announced last year it would invest US$1.5 billion (RM6.64 billion) in a manufacturing facility in Singapore. The company received “very substantial support” from Singapore, Soriot said on Thursday.

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