AstraZeneca plans to invest 650 million pounds ($826.80 million) in Britain to boost vaccine research, development and production. The government made the announcement on Wednesday as part of Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt's spring budget.
AstraZeneca's planned investment includes £450m in Liverpool, its manufacturing base for vaccine research, development and production, and a further $200m to expand its existing presence in Cambridge, home to its global headquarters.
“AstraZeneca's planned investment will improve the UK's preparedness for pandemic preparedness and demonstrates our continued confidence in UK life sciences,” the drugmaker's boss Pascal Soriot said in a statement.
The investment is a step in the right direction after Soriot moved a planned new manufacturing facility to Ireland last year, as the British business climate has encouraged biopharma companies to invest in the country.
“AstraZeneca's investment plans are a vote of confidence,” said Hunt.
In December 2020, Great Britain became the first country to approve a coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford. ($1 = 0.7862 pounds) (Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Taseem Zahid)
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