AstraZeneca says £200m funding for Cambridge is 'important signal'
It's part of a £650m investment nationally
Last updated 8th Mar 2024
A life sciences company hopes a multi-million pound investment in Cambridge will lead to better protection to public health.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced in his Spring Budget this week that AstraZeneca is investing £650 million across the country, with £200m of that on a new facility on its Cambridge Biomedical Campus site.
The facility will house around 1,000 employees and will be adjacent to its £1.1 billion global R&D Discovery Centre, which already hosts 2,300 researchers and scientists.
The government said AstraZeneca aim to "enhance public health protection and pandemic preparedness" through the funding.
AstraZeneca also intends to invest £450 million at their manufacturing site in Speke, Liverpool to help with the research, development, and manufacturing of vaccines.
Tom Keith-Roach is the president of AstraZeneca UK:
"It's important to remember how important life sciences is to the UK economy; it's an industry that's worth more than £100 billion and it's an industry which has been a historical superpower for the UK," he said.
"This is an important signal that we see the environment moving in the right direction.
"To be a life sciences superpower, we also need to make sure we're equally diligent and competitive in making sure we get new medicines and new science to patients faster and more equitably so we can improve public health.
"It's about generating medicines of the future, which if you think about some of our public health challenges and workforce productivity, also are going to be important for addressing healthcare inequality and keeping people healthy."
Investment fuels plans to make Cambridge 'scientific powerhouse'
In his Spring Budget, the Chancellor said Cambridge would receive millions of pounds in funding to help make it become "the world's leading scientific powerhouse".
Mr Hunt said there will be a long-term funding settlement for a future development corporation in Cambridge worth around £10m.
The AstraZeneca investment was announced the same day as the government released a document, entitled the 'Case for Cambridge' which set out its expansion plans for the city including building 150,000 new homes.