AZ halts UK investment, and Lilly, Sanofi follow suit

Last week will likely be remembered as the one in which pharma frustrations with the UK boiled over.

MSD’s decision to pull back from a £1 billion ($1.35 billion) investment in the country was bad enough, but was swiftly followed by a report suggesting that the UK is tumbling down the rankings when it comes to attracting investment in facilities, R&D, and clinical trials.

Shortly thereafter, AstraZeneca was reported by Reuters to have paused a £200 million investment in its flagship Cambridge research campus, which was set to create 1,000 new jobs, having already pulled out of a £450…