Copyright dailymail
The boss of drug giant AstraZeneca has warned that the UK is deterring investment from the pharma industry. Chief executive Pascal Soriot said Britain should be trying to attract cash from the sector but was instead pushing it away. ‘The UK needs to create the environment that attracts this investment and right now the opposite is true,’ Soriot told Bloomberg. He added: ‘Companies are reducing investment and have been doing so for many years.’ Despite the withering critique, Soriot said there was ‘no reason’ to uproot from its headquarters in Cambridge. He said new technology was increasingly going to the US and China rather than Europe, meaning the continent was at risk of falling behind in the race to develop new drugs. ‘In 15 to 20 years, Europe could easily lose its health sovereignty,’ Soriot said. It came as the company raked in record quarterly sales between August and October, boosted by a strong performance from cancer and heart medicines. Astra reported revenues of £11.6billion, some 12 per cent higher than a year ago, while pre-tax profits surged 77 per cent to £2.5billion. The numbers were driven by a 19 per cent rise in sales of cancer drugs to £5.1billion and a 2 per cent increase in revenues from its heart, kidney and diabetes medicines to £2.5billion. Shares rose 3.1 per cent, or 384p, to 12,834p. Astra makes most of its money in the US, where drug prices are higher. Soriot has pushed for Europe to allow pharma companies to charge more, warning that the industry will move elsewhere to develop cutting-edge drugs. In the UK, the sector is negotiating with the Government over a scheme that allows the NHS to claw back 23 per cent of drug company sales in Britain. The Government has proposed paying up to 25 per cent more for medicines to prevent firms fleeing the UK. But further details have yet to emerge, fuelling fears of more strain on public finances. Speculation has mounted that Astra will move its stock market listing as President Donald Trump ramps up pressure on drug firms to make more of their products there. Almost all shareholders this week backed plans to upgrade Astra’s listing in New York, which many see as a blow to the London Stock Exchange.
