Astrazeneca chief blasts Europe for ‘putting citizens’ health at risk’
Europe is putting its “ability to protect the health of its own people at risk” by not investing enough, the chief executive of FTSE 100 giant Astrazeneca has warned.
Pascal Soriot added that the continent is “falling behind” in attracting R&D and manufacturing investment and needs to “invest more in what really matters to it”.
The comments come after Astrazeneca rejoined the main US drug lobby group after an absence of about two years.
The decision, confirmed by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), follows the drugmaker’s announcement last year of a $3.5bn (£2.6bn) investment in the United States.
That money would be put towards expanding its research and development alongside its manufacturing capabilities by the end of next year.
Soriot said “The world order is shifting right now and Europe needs to invest more in what really matters to it.
“Europe has stepped up to invest more in defence and now it must protect its health sovereignty.
“Europe spends a substantially lower share of GDP on innovative medicines than the US and, as a result, is falling behind in attracting R&D and manufacturing investments, putting its ability to protect the health of its own people at risk.”
Huge pay day for Astrazeneca CEO
In February, City AM reported that Astrazeneca “is too big and complex to base its chief executive’s pay packet on the rest of the FTSE index”.
Writing in the pharmaceutical giant’s annual report, remuneration committee chair Sheri McCoy said “UK-listed FTSE companies are not the right peer group for us to use” given the group’s “size, complexity and global footprint”.
The comments came as Astrazeneca handed a pay packet worth £14.7m to Soriot for its latest financial year.
The figure is down from the £17.3m he was given in the prior year mostly because of the long-term incentive element.
At last year’s annual general meeting, Astrazeneca faced strong opposition from major shareholders over proposed changes to its remuneration policy.
The reforms were pushed through at the AGM but a significant number of investors voted against the changes.
Since then, McCoy has been on a charm offensive to win over the support of major shareholders and pledged to be more communicative in future of the reasons behind remuneration policies.
Astrazeneca’s revenue jumped 21 per cent last year despite growing troubles over its presence in China.
The pharmaceutical giant recorded $54bn (£43.3bn) in revenue for the year, a jump of 21 per cent on 2023’s levels.
In its full-year results, the largest FTSE 100 firm revealed that revenue in Europe had skyrocketed 37 per cent. In the US, revenue expanded 28 per cent.