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outgoing GSK boss dame emma walmsley has said the US is the best place to invest in the latest blow to Britain’s pharmaceutical sector, as many pharmaceutical companies have canceled or halted plans to invest in Britain.
Dame Emma, who is stepping down in January after leading GSK as chief executive for the past eight years, told BBC She would not want to “shy away” the firm’s plans to invest in the US, which she said was “still the world’s leading market in terms of the launch of new medicines and vaccines”.
Along with China, it is “the best market in the world for business development”, he said.
GSK announced in September that it would invest $30 billion (£21.9 billion) in the US over the next five years, which came amid pressure from the US president. donald trump As they escalated their trade tariff war, and the industry became frustrated over how much NHS Pays for medicines.
US-based Merck and London-listed AstraZeneca have also canceled or halted investments in the UK in recent months.
But Dame Emma welcomed the recent UK-US tariff deal, which will mean zero tariffs on imports of UK pharmaceuticals into the US in exchange for increased spending on medicines by the NHS.
The limit the UK will pay for new medicines will be increased by 25%, meaning some medicines that would have been rejected as being too expensive could be approved, such as breakthrough cancer treatments and treatments for rare diseases.
The agreement also includes limiting reimbursement rates to 15% of NHS drug prices for the first three years of the deal.
Dame Emma said the tariff deal was “a step in the right direction” for the UK, and would encourage innovation in the NHS element of research and development.
The deal follows warnings that US pharma companies will close sites in the UK if the NHS does not pay more for drugs.
US Ambassador Warren Stephens recently said that more US businesses would put off future investment if “changes are not made rapidly”.
The dispute has been seen as a reason why US firm Merck, known as MSD in Europe, abandoned a planned £1 billion site in London’s King’s Cross, which was due to open in 2027.
AstraZeneca also recently announced plans to invest $50bn (£37.4bn) in the US over the next five years, while also scrapping plans to invest £200m at a Cambridge research site.