Pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca has outlined plans to invest £650 million in the UK – helping boost the UK’s world leading life sciences sector and grow the economy. This significant investment will enhance public health protection and pandemic preparedness.
AstraZeneca intends to invest £450 million at its manufacturing site in Speke, Liverpool for the research, development, and manufacture of vaccines; building on the site’s current role in supplying the world-leading childhood vaccination programme. The new facility will be designed and built to be operationally net zero with power supplied from renewable energy sources.
In a further boost for the UK’s resilience for future pandemics and global health threats, AstraZeneca and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) plan to work in partnership to advance science for developing and evaluating vaccines – using technology from both AstraZeneca’s manufacturing site in Speke and the UKHSA’s Vaccine Development Evaluation Centre (VDEC) at its Porton Down site.
AstraZeneca will also expand its presence at Europe’s largest life sciences cluster in Cambridge with £200 million in investment. The facility will house around 1,000 employees and will be adjacent to its £1.1 billion global R&D Discovery Centre (DISC), which already hosts 2,300 researchers and scientists.
AstraZeneca Chief Executive Officer, Sir Pascal Soriot, said: “AstraZeneca’s planned investment would enhance the UK’s pandemic preparedness and demonstrates our ongoing confidence in UK life sciences. We will continue to support the UK in driving innovation and patient access, building on the strong foundations which have been put in place.”
Dr Isabel Oliver, Chief Scientific Officer at UKHSA, added: “This investment will bolster the development of the UK’s vaccine capabilities and life sciences sector – critical components of the country’s resilience to future health threats. UKHSA majors on researching and developing new ways to strengthen the country’s defences against all health hazards – including future pandemics – and works routinely with a range of commercial and academic partners. We are looking forward to working with AstraZeneca to collectively protect the population’s health.”