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Astrazeneca canceled the plans for a vaccine manufacturing plant in the United Kingdom of 450 million pounds sterling after months of disputes with British officials on the support of the state to the project, in a blow for the government of the first Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
British officials offered a revised financial support offer for the site close to Liverpool this month which was much higher than the 40 million pounds sterling offered last year, according to people familiar with the problem.
Starmer’s Labor Government initially asked last summer to reduce the public amount provided to the Speke project by around 90 million to 40 million pounds sterling.
“After prolonged discussions with the government, we no longer continue our planned investment at Speke,” Astrazeneca said in a statement.
“Several factors have influenced this decision, including the calendar and the reduction of the final supply compared to the proposal of the previous government.”
The new factory was going to make the next generation of flu vaccines and help the United Kingdom be more resilient in future pandemics.
The existing Speke site will continue to produce and provide a flu vaccine, said Astrazeneca, the largest company listed in the United Kingdom by market capitalization.
The decision comes only a few days after Chancellor Rachel Reeves sought to position the United Kingdom as a very attractive place for life sciences in investing in a major discourse on growth.
Starmer and Reeves were confronted with business criticisms for their tax budget of 40 billion pounds sterling last year and other measures, including stronger rights of workers, who warned executives will do the kingdom -Ina a less attractive place to invest.
The previous offer of the United Kingdom to the pharmaceutical group under the former Conservative Chancellor Jeremy Hunt included up to 70 million pounds of subsidies to develop an existing astrazeneca vaccine in Speke, as well as 20 million pounds sterling of Support for the research and development of the UK Health Security Agency.
Hunt, who announced the agreement to a big fanfare in March of last year, told Financial Times that Astrazeneca’s decision was a “massive government objective”.
“The manufacture of high-end vaccines is a huge opportunity for us to move away from the too dependence on the R&D part of the value chain,” he said. “I intervened personally to obtain this agreement on the line in 2023 and I am mortified that the government dropped the ball on it.”
The Treasury said: “A change in the composition of the investment initially proposed by Astrazeneca led to a reduction in the government grant offer. All funding for government grants must demonstrate a value for the taxpayer and, unfortunately, despite the in -depth work of government representatives, it was not possible to achieve a solution. »»
He added: “Astrazeneca remains closely engaged in government work to develop our new industrial strategy.”
A person who knows the relationship said that Astrazeneca had become “deeply frustrated” by the government, with Speke only a point of tension in a broader confrontation on the prices of medicines and the future of investments in life sciences .
People close to the pharmaceutical group said that it was considering other possible manufacturing sites for its new vaccination plant now that it had abandoned the Speke plan.
In November, Astrazeneca said that it planned to invest $ 3.5 billion in research and development and manufacturing in the United States, the world’s largest pharmaceutical market, which generates 44% of sales of the business.
The director general of Astrazeneca, Pascal Sorot, said at the time that the investment reflected “the attractiveness of the commercial environment as well as the quality of talents and innovation capacities”.
The company also provides for a manufacturing installation of $ 1.5 billion in Singapore and has promised an investment of $ 560 million in Canada.
People knowing the company said its decision on the installation of Speke would not affect any other Astrazeneca investments in the United Kingdom.
Speke’s decision comes at a time when the United States offers very attractive advantages for companies that plan to invest in manufacturing, including through investment in state infrastructure, and loans and loans and loans and loans and loans and loans and loans and loans and loans and loans and loans and loans Subsidies for research and development.
President Donald Trump called “all the companies in the world” to “come and make your product in America”.
“We will give you among the lowest taxes of all nation on earth,” said Trump in a video flow from the World Economic Forum in Davos last week. “But if you do not create your product in America, which is your prerogative, then, very simply, you will have to pay a price.”
Trump said he wanted to reduce companies tax by 21% to 15%.
