GSK shares rally as chief Emma Walmsley to exit after eight years September 29, 2025 The chief executive of pharmaceutical giant GSK has announced plans to step down from the company at the end of the year. Emma Walmsley, who took the helm of the drugmaker in 2017, will be replaced by chief commercial officer Luke Miels. Miels – the former Executive Vice President of Astrazeneca – also joined the [...]
UK drug prices necessary to stop feud with companies, says science minister September 25, 2025 The price the NHS pays for medicines will need to rise to end the feud with pharmaceutical companies and stop the exodus of investment in the UK, science minister Patrick Vallance has said. Lord Vallance told the Financial Times that “all options” were on the table in terms of UK drug pricing, after several large [...]
Mounjaro sales help almost double Ely Lilly’s UK turnover September 18, 2025 The sale of weight loss drug Mounjaro has boosted the UK turnover of pharmaceuticals giant Eli Lilly by 90 per cent during its latest financial year, it has been revealed. The division of the US group has posted a turnover of £889m for 2024, according to new accounts filed with Companies House. The new total [...]
Why is the pharmaceutical industry turning its back on the UK? September 18, 2025 Since coming into power last year, Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer have consistently stressed the importance of the life science sector to the UK economy, viewing it as critical for growth. In its aim to boost the industry’s standing, Labour pledged to make the UK an attractive place for investment and innovation, and to increase [...]
Astrazeneca pauses £200m Cambridge investment September 13, 2025 British drug giant Astrazeneca has paused a planned £200 million expansion of its research site in Cambridge in a fresh blow to the UK pharmaceutical industry. It comes after the pharmaceutical firm abandoned plans to invest £450 million in a vaccine plant in Merseyside earlier this year in a blow to the Government as it [...]
Merck warns UK is ‘not internationally competitive’ as it scraps £1bn London research centre September 10, 2025 Merck has pulled out of a planned £1bn London drug research centre in the latest blow to the government’s growth agenda. The US pharma giant is to lay off 127 staff alongside abandoning the construction project, which had been set to open in King’s Cross in 2027. The firm warned the UK would lag behind [...]
Swiss shares fall as the country feels the wrath of Trump’s tariffs August 4, 2025 Shares in Swiss firms dropped on Monday morning as markets digested the consequences of US president Donald Trump’s high tariffs. The Swiss Market Index dropped by 1.9 per cent to 11,835 francs upon opening this morning, before easing its losses to trade at 1.54 per cent down. It clawed its way back to 0.77 per [...]
Pharma stocks suffer as Trump demands prescription slash August 1, 2025 Pharmaceutical stocks across the global markets have taken a hit after Trump demanded drug companies lower prices for American consumers. Trump’s threat against pharmaceuticals has given healthcare sector investors “a dose of the blues” after his letter to various company bosses. It outlined that they should either cut US prescription prices or face a tariff [...]
Astrazeneca plots huge $50bn US investment after ditching UK expansion plans July 22, 2025 Astrazeneca has unveiled plans to invest as much as $50bn in manufacturing and R&D in the US after ditching its UK expansion plans in a blow to the government’s industrial strategy. The Cambridge-based pharma giant said it will spend the huge sum over the next five years, including on a new manufacturing facility in Virginia, [...]
Trump tariffs: FTSE 100 holds steady as pharma and metals brace for levies July 9, 2025 The FTSE 100 opened 22 points up this morning, despite threats of pharma and metals tariffs with stark implications for major stocks on the blue chip index. President Trump has said that an announcement is coming “very soon” on pharmaceutical tariffs – with a possible 200 per cent rate landing in “about a year”. Major [...]