Astra growth shows it believes in Britain

ASTRAZENECA has confirmed it will expand its biggest British site in a major vote of confidence amid concerns that Brexit will hit pharmaceutical firms.

Andy Evans, head of Astra’s Macclesfield operations, told the Sunday Telegraph that the FTSE 100 firm will increase capacity at the site as part of an ongoing multi-million-pound investment in the business.

It has seen a large jump in demand for a prostate and breast cancer drug from Asia.

However, Astra said that chief executive Pascal Soriot’s warning last month that all new UK investment decisions had been put on hold because of Brexit uncertainty still stood.

Meanwhile, a Government report on Britain’s strategy for the life sciences sector by Oxford University professor Sir John Bell comes out this week.

It will recommend tax breaks and other incentives to encourage research and drug exports as the UK prepares to exit the European Union.

Pharma firms fear drug approval could take longer after Brexit, with the EU regulator, the European Medicines Agency, relocating from London.