UK must spend more on medicines, minister says, as Big Pharma cuts investment

By Alistair Smout

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain needs to reverse its declining spend on medicines, science minister Patrick Vallance said on Tuesday, after two major pharmaceutical firms cancelled or paused investments and the industry warned of a difficult operating environment.

U.S. drugmaker Merck & Co, known as MSD in Europe, last week said it was scrapping research operations in London, while Reuters reported that AstraZeneca had paused a 200 million pound ($273 million) investment in Cambridge.

The pharmaceutical industry has been outspoken about what it says is Britain’s underinvestment in life sciences, criticising its system for valuing medicines, known as NICE.

Its talks with the government over how much revenue from drug sales must be returned to the country’s National Health Se