The United Kingdom Drugs Chief Merck said that the United Kingdom's operational environment for pharmaceutical companies is “difficult” and “must be addressed”, a week after he eliminated the plans for a site of £ 1 billion in London.
Ben Lucas, managing director of Vice President of the United Kingdom and Ireland for MSD, Merck's Business in the United Kingdom and Europe, told parliamentarians in the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee that their “ability to do end -to -end business” in the United Kingdom contributed to their decision.
Last week, MSD said he will transfer his life science operation to the United States in a movement that will affect around 125 British works.
He had planned to open a research center at the King's Cross in London, which was already under construction and would open in 2027.
Days later, the rival Astrazeneca announced that he paused plans to invest £ 200 million in a Cambridge research site in the last important blow to the sector.
The bosses of both companies told parliamentarians on Tuesday that there have been constructive conversations with the government, but that is needed more to address the environment of investment and innovation in the United Kingdom.
Lucas said that the withdrawal of London's plans “has been fair while he was in process” and was linked to a broader restructuring group.
But he added that the operational environment in the United Kingdom was also a factor.
He said: “My research laboratory colleagues have made the decision that, in terms of their early laboratory discovery research, they would no longer pursue what had been a long -standing investment here in London and, on that basis, we will see and put almost 125 of our scientists at risk.
“Our plan had been to build 200 scientists and occupy this new installation.
“But at this time, the decision strategically from the perspective of a company and where we find the United Kingdom in terms of the capacity of end -to -end businesses here, from one side of life sciences, were influential in this decision.”
The head of pharmaceutical products emphasized that his decision was not simply driven by a current shaking of the drug sector in the United States, and President Trump recently asked European countries to pay more for medications.
“It would be unfortunate for any of these decisions to be explained as a function of what is happening in the United States,” Lucas said.
“The Commercial Operating Environment of the United Kingdom must be addressed and we find it difficult.”
Meanwhile, Tom Keith-Roach, president of the drug manufacturer in the United Kingdom, Astrazeneca, told parliamentarians that the United Kingdom is an “increasingly challenging” environment for innovation.
Keith-Roach said the company faces particular challenges to bring innovation in medicine through the Nice (National Institute of Excellence in Health and Care) and NHS.
He added: “There has been a growing number of sites of sites, research and development withdrawals and investments that stop.
“I think that is simply a response to the economic severity of the reward for innovation in other jurisdictions compared to the winds against here.”
