The boss of AstraZeneca (AZN.L) has confirmed plans to invest $50bn in the US by 2030, emphasising the importance of domestic manufacturing and research to ensure “health sovereignty” and supply chain security.
Speaking to Market Sunrise host Ramzan Karmali at Yahoo Finance, he added that the company had paused some investment plans in the UK, citing declining government support for pharmaceutical innovation.
“The share of healthcare costs going to pharmaceutical innovation in the UK has dropped from around 12%-15% to just 7%,” he said. “With that, you can’t do much in terms of accessing new, innovative products. We hope the government will review this and create additional funding for innovation.”
Meanwhile, the US has become the group’s “most important market” and will soon represent half of the company’s global revenue ambitions.
“We’re investing in manufacturing and research in the US to ensure health sovereignty and supply independence,” Soriot said. “By 2030, we expect the US to account for $40bn of our $80bn global ambition.”
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Last week AstraZeneca shareholders voted to elevate the company’s New York listing, allowing investors to buy shares directly on Wall Street rather than through American Depositary Receipts (ADRs). Soriot dismissed suggestions that the move was a blow to London.
“It’s not a blow to London,” he said. “It’s a signal that we are very American in our approach. We want American investors to easily access our shares and benefit from our growth.”
The Cambridge-based pharmaceutical firm, which is a global leader in oncology, rare diseases, and biopharmaceutical innovation, aims to maintain a “harmonised listing” structure, remaining in London and Stockholm, while also debuting its shares on the New York Stock Exchange in February next year.
“We want as many investors as possible to be able to buy our shares,” Soriot told Yahoo Finance.
It currently faces fierce competition from the likes of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Merck (MRK) and Pfizer (PFE). Shares were trading around 3% higher in London on Thursday.
It comes as AstraZeneca reported its largest-ever quarterly revenue, surpassing $15bn in the three months to September, thanks to soaring sales of cancer drugs and robust growth in the US. This beat analyst expectations on both sales and earnings.
Core earnings per share (EPS) taking out currency movements were up 12% year-on-year at $2.38, which was ahead of the estimates of $2.30, according to analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.