UPDATE 2-AstraZeneca to invest $405 million in Britain after US-UK pharma deal

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. The investment follows praise from drugmakers including AstraZeneca for a U.S.-UK agreement aimed at increasing medicine prices in Britain in line with the Trump ‌administration's new U.S. pricing policies. The deal was finalised earlier in April.

"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. Companies including AstraZeneca have warned that Europe risks missing out on new ⁠medicines ​under the new policy environment, ⁠known as most-favored-nation pricing.

"We want to recognize the importance of the U.S.-UK deal on pharmaceuticals, and the leading role this ⁠plays in ensuring increased spending on new medicines and driving access to new therapies," AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said ​on a call with reporters shortly after Starmer's announcement. AstraZeneca earlier on Wednesday reported earnings that beat expectations, ⁠helped by demand for its cancer and rare disease drugs.

The investment will be used to complete the Rosalind Franklin building on ⁠AstraZeneca's ​campus in Cambridge, eastern England, and to develop a lab of the future that will use digital and data tools to advance drug development. Starmer said the investment would future-proof 1,000 jobs ⁠in Cambridge and Macclesfield, northern England.

Last year, AstraZeneca pulled back on a 200-million-pound investment plan in Cambridge, home ⁠to one of Britain's ⁠leading life sciences hubs. It also scrapped plans for a 450-million-pound vaccine manufacturing plant in northern England after government support was cut. ($1 = 0.7405 pounds)

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