Pharmaceutical companies put pressure from the United Kingdom while the order of pricing of Trump’s medicines is looming

The United Kingdom is under pressure to offer a better deal to global pharmaceutical companies, because a multitude of investments drawn and state-of-the-art pricing talks on the state visit of US President Donald Trump in Great Britain.

Pharmaceutical companies urge British authorities to pay more for drugs and improve the competitive landscape before a most favored Trump (MFN) deadline.

But with little government movement so far, companies have disconnected in investments offered in Great Britain, in what some analysts suggest being a negotiation tactic to stimulate support for the United Kingdom.

“We believe that it is, at this stage, a negotiation tactic and that many of these companies will not go completely away and will in a way rethink their investments,” said Jimmy Muchchetere, Global Healthcare & Industrials Equity Research at Investc de CNBC “Europe Early Edition” on Monday.

Since the new US administration has arrived at the office, “production locations, innovation and the price are all under discussion,” Diederik Stadig, health economist in ING Research, in CNBC, told CNBC.

A spokesperson for the United Kingdom Department for Sciences, Technology and Innovation said that the United Kingdom was “one of the most attractive places to invest in the world”, but recognized that there was “more to do funding and unlock innovation.

Anglo-SWEDISH DRUG MAKER Astrazeneca On Friday, he had interrupted a planned investment of 200 million pounds Sterling (271.37 million dollars) on his Cambridge research site, in his last retreat from Great Britain this year because of what he nicknamed a reduction in government support.

This decision occurred two days after the American pharmaceutical company CrippleKnown in Europe under the name of MSD, has canceled a research center of 1 billion pounds sterling in London, citing a lack of competitiveness in the United Kingdom and its “undervaluation” of innovative drugs.

Zepbound Maker Eli Lilly also said that he interrupted investments in a British laboratory site while waiting “more clarity in the British environment on the life sciences”.

“They work together to ensure that they have a maximum impact on the Trump administration … and work together against other governments,” said Muchchettere about pharmaceutical companies and groups of pharmaceutical lobbies.

“We think it is something that we will see of all companies. They work together because they all benefit from it, or they are all affected at the same time,” he added.

Astrazeneca, Merck and Eli Lilly refused to comment on the suggestions of coordinated action muchchettere when they are contacted by CNBC.

Ing Stadig said the United Kingdom seemed to be an early victim of pharmaceutical companies repositioning their investment strategies in response to the Trump administration, but warned who could also follow suit in other countries.

“Pharmaceutical companies will allocate an increasing part of their capital to the United States, at the cost of investment in competing geographies,” said Stadig.

“The United Kingdom is the first practical case of this … Although we also saw various pharmaceutical companies repositioning the existing capacity towards the United States, which could prove another threat to British and European economies, more generally,” he added.

Large pharmaceutical companies were given until September 29 to present to the Trump administration “binding commitments” to reduce the prices of their drugs at the levels paid by other advanced countries.

Trump has long castigated European countries for not paying the same price for its medicines as the United States and not having invested in innovation.

The American president is expected to arrive in Great Britain on Tuesday for a three-day state visit, just a few months after the United Kingdom and the United States negotiated the flagship trade agreement of the Trump administration. Although the agreement describes the “preferential treatment” of pharmaceutical products, it depends on Great Britain improving “the global environment” in the sector.

The British government has reported the life sciences as one of its eight priority sectors when it announced its industrial strategy earlier this year. Nevertheless, the specific sector plan has disappointed many members of the industry, with Merck affirming on Wednesday that the United Kingdom had not made “significant progress to tackle the lack of investment in the life science industry”.

Meanwhile, long -term discussions on the pricing of drugs between pharmaceutical companies and the British government collapsed last month without resolution.

Larger questions have arisen on the UK’s investment landscape. A report published Wednesday by the Association of the British pharmaceutical industry (APPI) showed that the British classification of foreign direct investments (IDE) in the pharmaceutical sector had increased from second in 2017 to seventh in 2023.

“Without a more competitive environment for investment, we risk losing against other countries to make daring movements to attract mobile international investments,” Richard Torbett said in a statement last week.

Alex Altmann, partner at Chartred Accountants and Business Advisors Lubbock Fine, urged the British government to follow the example of the United States to double efforts to attract investments abroad. The Trump administration has urged world medication manufacturers to strengthen the manufacture of the United States, which has prompted a slew of investments of several billion dollars in recent months, especially pharmaceuticals Novartis, Sanofi and Roche.

“The US government is visibly very hard to win investments in its country. The United Kingdom must show part of the same campaign,” he said in comments sent by e-mail.

New figures from the British Department for Business and Trade (DBT) show that the number of IDE projects in the United Kingdom fell to 1,375 during the 2024/25 tax year, against 1,555 in 2023/24.

Nevertheless, the Muchchettere of Investc noted that the United Kingdom is still in a capitalization position to capitalize on its “world class scientific base” and gain on pharmaceutical investment, if it increases its game in negotiations.

“The United Kingdom is in a fantastic position for … additional research and gaining part of this work. They only have to play the ball,” said Muchchettere.