The investment, announced by the UK government as part of Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt's spring budget, is expected to improve public health protection, pandemic preparedness and AstraZeneca’s UK footprint
AstraZeneca’s headquarters in Cambridge UK. (Credit: D Wells from Wikimedia Commons)
AstraZeneca has unveiled its plans to invest £650m in the UK to boost public health protection and pandemic preparedness, support England’s life sciences sector and grow the economy.
The investment, announced by the UK government as part of Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt’s spring budget, is expected to strengthen AstraZeneca’s UK footprint.
AstraZeneca plans to invest £450m at their Speke, Liverpool, manufacturing plant for vaccine development, research, and manufacturing.
This will expand the location’s current role as a provider of the kid immunisation programme.
The new facility will be powered by renewable energy sources and planned to be operationally net zero.
AstraZeneca and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) intend to collaborate to advance science for developing and evaluating vaccines.
Both partners will use technology from AstraZeneca’s manufacturing site in Speke and the UKHSA’s Vaccine Development Evaluation Centre (VDEC) at their Porton Down site.
This will further strengthen the UK’s resilience against pandemics and global health threats.
Additionally, AstraZeneca plans to increase its footprint in the life sciences cluster in Europe, located in Cambridge with an investment of £200m.
Situated next to its £1.1bn global R&D Discovery Centre (DISC), which now accommodates 2,300 researchers and scientists, the facility is expected to employ approximately 1,000 people.
Following the announcement of a £380m investment in 2021, the entity will also build a new manufacturing plant for one of its cancer treatments in Macclesfield later this year.
AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said: “AstraZeneca’s planned investment would enhance the UK’s pandemic preparedness and demonstrate 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.
“This year marks 25 years since the merger of UK-based Zeneca Group and Swedish Astra AB.”