Leaving Astra would break my heart, says boss Pascal Soriot

PASCAL SORIOT, the Astrazeneca chief executive, has said it would “break his heart” to leave the FTSE 100 drug maker, as he warned Brexit uncertainty had caused the company to pause all UK capital investment decisions, including expansion of a drug plant in the north of England.

In the clearest indication yet he intends to stay at the firm, Mr Soriot said he wanted to see Astrazeneca’s new £500m purpose-built global HQ in Cambridge opened, expected in the second half of next year.

Shares in the firm – which lost £10bn of its market value on Thursday on a failed lung cancer drugs trial – rallied slightly yesterday, rising 3.6pc to end at £44.82. However, after the close, ratings agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded its borrowing a notch to BBB+, as a result of the trial result.

Mr Soriot has been dogged by questions about his future since he was linked with a move to the Israeli drugs firm Teva in reports earlier this month.

But Mr Soriot said yesterday: “It would break my heart to not see the opening of our Cambridge building. You don’t commit yourself to a journey like this one and just give up on the way. It doesn’t make sense.”

Mr Soriot also warned of the risks to the UK’S £60bn life sciences sector of a disorderly Brexit, saying a lack of clarity over drug regulation was pausing its own and rivals’ investment decisions.

Astrazeneca is still “very committed” to Britain but has shelved projects, including the expansion of a plant in Macclesfield.