UPDATE 1-AstraZeneca plans to invest $405 million in Britain, PM Starmer says

Prime ‌Minister Keir ​Starmer said on Wednesday that Britain's biggest company AstraZeneca would invest 300 million pounds ($405 ‌million) in the country, after pausing large-scale projects last year.

"I can announce a significant new investment by AstraZeneca, investing 300 million pounds in ‌UK life sciences, made possible by the pharmaceutical arrangement we ‌have struck with the United States," Starmer told lawmakers in parliament. The investment comes after drugmakers, including AstraZeneca, have praised the U.S.-UK deal, which is aimed ⁠at increasing ​medicine prices in ⁠Britain, in line with the Trump administration's new U.S. pricing policies.

Companies, including ⁠AstraZeneca, say Europe risks missing out on new medicines in the new ​policy environment, known as most-favored-nations. AstraZeneca had pulled back projects in ⁠Britain, citing the business environment, including a 200-million-pound investment plan in Cambridge where it ⁠has ​one of the country's leading life sciences hubs. It had earlier scrapped a proposed 450-million-pound in a vaccine manufacturing plant ⁠in northern England after a cut in government support.

Starmer said the latest ⁠investment would ⁠future proof 1,000 jobs in the northern English town of Macclesfield and in Cambridge. ($1 = 0.7405 pounds)

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