AstraZeneca has paused plans to invest £200 million at a Cambridge research site, a move that would have created 1,000 jobs. This decision represents a fresh blow to the UK pharmaceutical industry, following a similar withdrawal by US pharmaceutical giant Merck.

• AstraZeneca's Cambridge expansion, announced in March 2024, is now paused.
• The pause comes after Merck scrapped a £1 billion UK expansion and as President Donald Trump pressures pharmaceutical firms to invest more in the US.
• AstraZeneca previously scrapped plans to invest £450 million in a vaccine manufacturing plant in Merseyside in January.
• UK spending on medicines has fallen from 15% of the NHS budget to 9% over the last 10 years.
• AstraZeneca announced in July that it would invest $50 billion (£36.9 billion) in the US for "medicines manufacturing and R&D."