UK 'increasingly challenging' - drug company boss

An aerial view of AstraZeneca's headquarters. In the centre of the picture is a modern oval-shaped building, which is covered in glass and whose roof is rippled and angular. A surface car park is in the foreground of the picture, while behind the large building in the centre are other modern-looking buildings, some housing in the nearer distance, then countryside.

AstraZeneca's global headquarters are at its "discovery centre" on Cambridge's biomedical campus

Ben SchofieldPolitics correspondent, BBC East and Janine MachinTechnology and news correspondent, BBC East

The UK is an "increasingly challenging" country in which to develop drugs and get them to patients, according to a pharmaceuticals boss.

Tom Keith-Roach, UK president of AstraZeneca, gave evidence to MPs days after the pharmaceutical giant confirmed a planned £200m investment in Cambridge was "paused".

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough's Conservative mayor urged ministers to "solve" a "drug price row" to encourage economic growth.

The government said it hoped to make the UK a "destination of choice" for life sciences but the science minister admitted it should spend more on medicines.

Slightly to the left of the centre of frame is a small stage, with four steps leading up to a wooden platform. The stage has three large wooden spears coming out of it, which are holding up a roof and a lighting rig. There are four people standing on the stage, among them is Prince Charles, as he was at the time. The stage is standing on a well-kept, freshly mown, green lawn, which appears to be oval in shape. The lawn is inside the middle of a large, glass fronted, angular building. A crowd of people, including photographers and camera crews, is watching what is happening on the stage.Ben Schofield/BBC

The building was officially opened by the then Prince Charles in 2022

MPs on the Science, Innovation and Technology select committee called an emergency evidence session after news of AstraZeneca's investment pause emerged.

The company had planned to expand its "discovery centre" headquarters, based on Cambridge's biomedical campus, creating about 1,000 jobs.

It followed US pharmaceutical giant Merck scrapping a £1bn UK expansion days earlier, blaming a lack of government investment.

Mr Keith-Roach said AstraZeneca was "extremely proud to be the leading life sciences company and leading life sciences investor in the UK" and that it was "deeply rooted in Cambridge", as well as at sites in Macclesfield, Cheshire, and Liverpool.

He said the company had recently lost the UK patent for its "largest product in the UK", diabetes drug Forxiga.

That, he continued, had "forced us to review our UK footprint".

He also said that "building successful, high-growth, innovation-led pharmaceutical companies" involved "taking huge risk in drug development".

He added that this required "health systems and governments which value that innovation" and allowed its "business model globally to be sustainable".

Tom Keith-Roach, centre frame and part way through his evidence to a House of Commons select committee. He is mid-flow, with his mouth partly open and both hands spread in front of him. His is wearing glasses that are part way down his nose and he is looking over them. His eyes are wide and his brow furrowed. He is wearing a navy suit jacket, blue tie and white shirt. He is sitting at a table, whose green leather top can just been seen at the bottom of frame. An empty chair on the left of frame is dark green and bears the Parliament crowned portcullis logo. Behind Mr Keith-Roach are several people, also wearing suits and lanyards with 'visitor' written on them. One of the people behind is checking their phone. Behind those people a wood-panelled wall can just be seen. UK Parliament

Tom Keith-Roach gave evidence to the Science, Innovation and Technology select committee just days after news of AstraZeneca's investment pause was leaked

Mr Keith-Roach continued: "The UK is an increasingly challenging place actually to bring forward that innovation, to get through the front door of [the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence], into the NHS, [and] to bring forward innovation to patients."

An interior shot of a white robotic arm, surrounded by other scientific equipment. On the base of the arm is written "high res biosolutions". Shaun Whitmore/BBC

About 2,300 researchers and scientists use the latest technology to try to create new medicines at AstraZeneca's Cambridge discovery centre

In August, talks over the cost of medicines in the UK between the Department for Health and pharmaceutical firms broke down.

Over the last 10 years, UK spending on medicines fell from 15% of the NHS budget to 9%, while the rest of the developed world spends between 14% and 20%.

Science minister Lord Patrick Vallance told the committee the NHS should spend more on medicines but the "reason we need to reverse" the decline was "not just price".

"I don't think this is just about saying 'we're going to pay you more'," he added.

The government needed to ensure "that we get rapid uptake of the new medicines" and "equitable access right across the UK", as well as look at a "price issue for some medicines".

Lord Vallance continued: "I think it would be a big mistake to say 'we just need to put up prices' – it's more than that.

"The ultimate beneficiary of this needs to be patients on the one hand and the economy on the other."

Paul Bristow, centre frame, smiling and looking directly down the camera. He is wearing a dark blue jacket and lighter blue, opened necked shirt. He is standing outside. The background is blurred, but a waterfront or riverside area and boats can be seen behind Mr Bristow. Phil Shepka/BBC

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough's mayor Paul Bristow urged the government to end the "drug price row"

Conservative Paul Bristow, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough's directly elected mayor, said the investment "pause" by AstraZeneca was "not welcome", but that the "fundamentals of Cambridge are still strong".

"What we need is action from the government to try and unlock investment in Cambridge.

"We need intervention in our life sciences industry. We need to solve that drug price row and once we do, the UK life science industry can continue to thrive and grow."

Ministers were said to be "disappointed" by AstraZeneca's decision but Mr Keith-Roach said the company was now involved "in a highly constructive conversation with government at the highest level".

A government spokesperson said: "The changes we are making through the life sciences sector plan will help make the UK the destination of choice for life sciences companies to invest – supporting our health, wealth, and resilience."

It is investing £600m in the Health Data Research Service, alongside Wellcome, and has committed up to £520m to the Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund.

The spokesperson added that ministers remained "confident in life sciences as a driver of both economic growth and better health outcomes, and our door remains open to future engagement" with the pharmaceutical industry.

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