AbbVie invests £120m in UK expansion

Hard on the heels of a £1 billion investment package by pharma companies in last week's UK Budget, AbbVie has pledged another £120 million to the country, reinforcing its recovery as a life sciences hotspot.

At the core of the US pharma group's plans is a new 12,000-square-foot R&D site in Oxford that will "expand AbbVie's research capabilities across immunology, neuroscience, and oncology," according to a statement.

The new facility builds on AbbVie's $225 million acquisition of Oxford biotech DJS Antibodies, a privately-held company dedicated to discovering and developing antibody medicines for hard-to-drug targets, four years ago.

"[AbbVie] is expanding to further harness the leading life sciences ecosystem in Oxford," said Jon Sedgwick, the company's global head of discovery research. The city is one corner of the UK's so-called 'golden triangle' of life sciences expertise, along with London and Cambridge.

AbbVie employs more than 1,100 people across all functions at its UK sites in Oxford, Maidenhead, and Marlow, all of which are within the confines of the golden triangle.

The investment, coming after government-backed pledges from Convatec, Vertex Pharma, and Kindeva in the Budget, is another signal that sentiment for the UK by the pharma sector is improving, after a tricky few years in which some big players like AstraZeneca and MSD cancelled investment plans in the country.

High clawback rates on sales of medicines to the NHS, along with declines in spending on new medicines by the health service, a clinical research sector hampered by bureaucracy, and the disconnect of the UK from the EU economy post-Brexit all played a part in diminishing the UK's stature on the global stage.

Recent moves by the UK government to cap rebate rates, raise cost-effectiveness thresholds for new NHS medicines alongside the US-UK trade deal removing pharma tariffs, upgrades to the UK R&D and data infrastructures, and slashing of clinical trial red tape have all gone a long way towards restoring positive industry sentiment.

"Countries that combine good access and uptake of innovative medicines with world-class research and development are best placed to attract global life sciences investment and improve health outcomes," commented Kelly Sanderson Schrems, vice president and general manager of AbbVie UK.

"The UK has made important commitments on life sciences growth," she added. "Delivering on these commitments is critical to maintaining global competitiveness and ensuring innovative medicines reach patients."