simon jack,business editorAnd
Archie Mitchell
The boss of one of Britain’s biggest pharmaceutical companies has said the US is the best place for a business to invest.
Dame Emma Walmsley, chief executive of vaccines and drugs giant GSK, said it would invest $30bn (£23bn) in the US by 2030.
It comes as other major drugmakers have pulled billions of UK projects worth billions after years of frustration over the NHS drug budget and pressure from President Donald Trump to set up production in the US.
However Dame Emma, who will leave GSK in January after eight years in charge, welcomed a new deal that would see the NHS pay more to help UK pharmaceuticals secure zero tariffs on shipping to the US.
Speaking to the BBC from the firm’s central London headquarters, Dame Emma said she would not “hesitate” on GSK’s investment plans for the US, where it makes more than half of its business.
“The US is still the leading market in the world in terms of launching new drugs and vaccines,” he said. And along with China, it was “the best market in the world for business development”, he said.
GSK’s latest statewide investment campaign comes as US pharmaceutical company Merck – known as MSD in Europe – has canceled a planned £1bn expansion of its UK operations.
British drugmaker AstraZeneca has also announced it is halting a planned £200 million investment in a Cambridge research facility, while investing billions of dollars in the US.
Other pharmaceutical companies have also said they have no desire to invest in Britain, which successive governments have insisted is a life sciences superpower.
Despite the challenges facing the UK pharmaceuticals industry, Dame Emma said the deal to eliminate tariffs on UK drug shipments to the US was “a step in the right direction” for the UK.
The deal means the UK will pay more for medicines through the NHS – in return it will guarantee that US import taxes on pharmaceuticals made in the UK will be at zero for three years.
Dame Emma said this was a welcome reversal of the long-term decline in the share of the NHS budget spent on medicines compared to other countries’ health systems.
The move, he said, will encourage the kind of innovation that supports groundbreaking new medicines like GSK’s new asthma drug, which can be taken twice a year and could reduce hospital admissions for severe asthma sufferers by 70%.
GSK expects the new treatment to be approved for use by the NHS within a few weeks.
Asked about the health of the country, he said there were “socio-demographic root causes” for its decline.
He said UK health outcomes vary widely depending on where you live, adding: “Depending on what postcode you’re in, you could potentially get a 10 or 15 year difference in lifespan prospects.”
Dame Emma pointed to the British lack of education about diet and nutrition as part of the problem.
“I think there’s no doubt that the food system is fundamentally something that we need to take a deep look at,” he said.
Dame Emma also opened up about the differences she has experienced between the NHS and the private healthcare system in the US, having given birth in London, Paris and twice in New York.
“The experience of childbirth and all the follow-up that happens afterward are both very, very different,” she said. “Any of the advice you’re given… how often you’re expected to be seen, how long you’re in hospital for and what kind of follow-up advice you’ll be given.”
Dame Emma said the balance of cost, access and outcomes matters, and the NHS still has “work to do” to get the balance right.
Dame Emma, who also sits on the board of Microsoft, said the world is on the cusp of major advances in health sciences, thanks to advances in AI that promise to accelerate innovation.
“90% of the projects in our industry don’t work, they take a decade and cost billions, to get to a place where you double it, you know, instead of doing 10% of the work, doing 20% of the work will completely change the trajectory of innovation”
In the end he said, few things are more important than health. “It’s one of the few things that every single person on the planet cares about.”
