AstraZeneca (AZ) has announced its plans to invest £650m to boost the life sciences sector in the UK, grow the economy, enhance public health protection and improve pandemic preparedness.
The company intends to invest a total of £450m at its manufacturing site in Speke, Liverpool, to boost the research, development and manufacturing of vaccines, in alignment with the site’s current role in supplying the childhood vaccination programme.
The new manufacturing facility will be built and designed to be operationally net zero, with power supplied from renewable energy sources.
In addition, AZ and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) will work in partnership to advance science for developing and evaluating vaccines to further boost the UK’s resilience for future pandemics and global health threats.
The partnership will utilise AZ’s manufacturing site in Speke as well as the UKHSA’s Vaccine Development Evaluation Centre at its Porton Down site in Wiltshire.
Furthermore, the company intends to expand its presence at Europe’s life sciences cluster in Cambridge with a further £200m investment.
Set to provide 1,000 jobs, the facility will build on AZ’s £1.1bn global Research and Development Discovery Centre, which currently hosts 2,3000 researchers and scientists.
Later this year, AZ plans to open a new manufacturing facility for one of its cancer medicines in Macclesfield, Cheshire, following the announcement of a £380m investment in 2021.
Health and social care secretary, Victoria Atkins, said: “This investment will help maintain the UK’s position at the forefront of tackling emerging diseases and support our work to make our healthcare system faster, simpler and fairer.”
Pascal Soriot, chief executive officer at AZ, commented: “We will continue to support the UK in driving innovation and patient access, building on the strong foundations which have been put in place.”
The announcement follows Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Budget to unlock investment in medical research, medicines manufacturing and improve NHS productivity, following the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry’s submission of four priorities to promote long-term investment in the UK in February.
As well as AZ’s investment, the Budget also included a £45m investment for charitable medical research as well as a further £3.4bn for NHS digital infrastructure.
