simon jack,business editorand
Archie Mitchell
While successive UK governments have emphasized that the UK is a life sciences superpower, in the eyes of one of the country’s largest pharmaceutical companies, the United States is the best place to invest.
The boss of drugs and vaccines giant GSK, Dame Emma Walmsley, told the BBC the company will invest $30bn (£23bn) in the US by the end of this decade.
The injection of cash across the pond comes as other major drugmakers have pulled out of projects in the UK worth billions after years of frustration over NHS drug budgets and pressure from President Donald Trump to set up production in the states.
And despite a new deal that will see the NHS pay more as part of a zero-tariff deal for shipping pharmaceuticals from the UK to the US, Dame Emma is not going to “shide away” from GSK’s US investment plans.
The United States is where the pharmaceutical giant generates more than half of its revenue and “continues to be the world’s leading market in terms of new drug and vaccine launches,” he says.
Along with China, it is “the best market in the world to develop business.”
GSK’s latest US investment drive came after US pharmaceutical company Merck (which in Europe is called MSD) scrapped a planned £1bn expansion of its UK operations.
British drugmaker AstraZeneca has also announced it will suspend a planned £200 million investment in a Cambridge research center while it invests tens of billions of dollars in the United States.
Other pharmaceutical companies have also said there is little interest in investing in the UK, which successive governments have insisted is a life sciences superpower.
Dame Emma, who will leave GSK in January after eight years at the helm, highlighted that GSK remains committed to the UK and noted that the interview was taking place at its new global headquarters in London.
“No one should be fooled into thinking that the UK is going to be a large-scale market, a domestic market, but it can be an exporter of life sciences innovation,” he says.
“For GSK, 2% of our sales are made here. More than 50% are made in the US. But we have invested a lot and remain committed to investing in terms of manufacturing, research and development.”
Despite the challenges facing the British pharmaceutical industry, Dame Emma welcomes the agreement to remove tariffs on shipments of medicines from the UK to the United States as “a step in the right direction” for Britain.
The deal means the UK will pay more for medicines through the NHS, in exchange for a guarantee that US taxes on imports of UK-made pharmaceuticals will remain at zero for three years.
Dame Emma says it is a welcome reversal of a long-term decline in the share of the NHS budget spent on medicines compared to health systems in other countries.
The move, he suggests, will encourage the kind of innovation that supports breakthrough new medicines, such as GSK’s new asthma drug, which can be taken twice a year and could reduce hospital admissions by 70% for severe asthma sufferers.
GSK hopes the NHS will approve the new treatment within weeks.
When asked about the health of the UK, Dame Emma says there are “fundamental socio-demographic causes” for its decline.
She says health outcomes vary widely depending on where you live: “You can probably get a 10 or 15 year difference in life prospects depending on what zip code you’re in.”
Dame Emma pointed out that British diets and a lack of nutrition education are part of the problem.
“I think there’s no question that the food system is fundamentally something we need to take a closer look at.”
Dame Emma also spoke 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.
“Both the birth experience and all the subsequent follow-up are very, very different,” she says. “Anything from the advice they give you… how often you’re expected to visit, how long you’ll be in the hospital and what kind of follow-up advice.”
Dame Emma added that what matters is the balance between price, access and outcomes, and that the NHS still has “work to do” to get the balance right.
Dame Emma, who also sits on Microsoft’s board, says the world is on the cusp of major advances in health sciences thanks in part to advances in artificial intelligence that promise to accelerate innovation.
“90% of the projects in our industry don’t work, take a decade and cost billions. Getting to a point where you simply double that number, instead of 10% working, 20% working will completely change the trajectory of innovation.”
In the end, he adds, few things are more important than health. “It’s one of the few things that ends up worrying every person on the planet.”
