AstraZeneca may move vaccine manufacturing facilities from the UK to the US, amid potential changes to state financial aid. Credit: Nathan Stirk via Getty Images.

AstraZeneca is considering relocating its manufacturing facilities from the UK to the US, amidst potential cuts to state funding from the Labour government.

UK Finance Minister Rachel Reeves has discussed plans to decrease state financial aid for the company’s £450m vaccine centre, as per the Financial Times.

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The pharmaceutical giant had announced plans to construct a manufacturing plant in Speke, Liverpool, as part of a £650m investment in the UK, in March 2024. Of this amount, £450m would be allocated to the facility in Speke while the other £200m would be used to develop facilities in Cambridge.

Undisclosed sources briefed on discussions between the government and AstraZeneca said the Labour government may reduce the previous government’s pledge of £90m to £40m.

Attracting manufacturing investment has been a key part of the life sciences strategy for the UK. The government has also pursued similar projects with other companies, similar to one with Moderna to establish an mRNA facility. In his Spring 2024 budget speech, Jeremy Hunt, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer said: “AstraZeneca’s investment plans are a vote of confidence in the attractiveness of the UK as a life sciences superpower and strengthen our resilience for future health emergencies.”

“We are in positive discussions with AstraZeneca to support the delivery of this planned investment in Speke,” a UK Treasury spokesperson told Reuters following the Financial Times report. “We have no idea where the comments in some media come from and they do not seem to be based on facts. As an example, there are no discussions in the US or India,” an AstraZeneca spokesperson told Reuters.

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Andrew Griffith, the UK’s shadow technology secretary, told the Financial Times that if the UK government failed to meet its funding pledge it would be a “huge backwards step for the UK”. Griffith was involved in the coordination of the government’s initial agreement with AstraZeneca.

It would be “tragic” if the government failed to meet the previous pledge, added Sir Mene Pangalos, the former executive prime minister at AstraZeneca in a 14 August LinkedIn post.

“The government needs to be pulling and encouraging R&D and capital investment in the UK not making it difficult.”

In her term as finance minister, Reeves has so far promised to deliver economic stability to the UK while disparaging the economic state left behind by the previous Conservative Government.

“After 14 years, Britain has a stable government. A government that respects business, wants to partner with business, and is open for business,” said Reeves in an 8 July statement.