The next generation of medical treatments will be created at a new Global Centre of Excellence in R&D in Cambridge, following a £400m investment made by British pharmaceutical company GSK.
The investment represents another major boost to the UK’s world class science, innovation and health ecosystem. The new Centre of Excellence, based on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, will feature state-of-the-art, tech-enabled labs and infrastructure, forming one of the GSK’s main focal points for drug discovery and development.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said:
“I’m determined to build a country that backs industry so that benefits are felt in every postcode.
“This investment by GSK is a vote of confidence in British business. A boost for home grown innovation and expertise. And a step towards more people getting access to new medicines and cutting edge treatments that will change lives for the better.”
Luke Miels, Chief Executive Officer, GSK, said:
“This investment will accelerate our R&D and help us deliver new, competitive products. It integrates GSK further into one of the world’s leading centres of knowledge and demonstrates the attractiveness of the UK’s life sciences ecosystem.”
Chancellor of the Exchequer John Healey MP said:
“This investment is a significant vote of confidence in the British economy and in Cambridge’s cutting-edge life sciences sector.
“It will support hundreds of high-skilled jobs in the East of England, boost the UK’s international status as a leading medical innovator, and help our drive for growth in every postcode.”
Jonathan Reynolds, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, said:
“The UK is a genuine world leader in the life sciences, an industry providing life-saving new treatments to patients, while creating and supporting jobs in postcodes across the country.
“This announcement from GSK is yet another vote of confidence in the sector and demonstrates the success of the Government’s Industrial Strategy in unlocking vital private investment into the UK, one year on from the launch of the Life Sciences Sector Plan.
“I am committed to ensuring the Government uses every lever we have to build the right environment for innovative businesses to grow, invest and drive the discoveries that save and improve lives.”
This latest success for the sector follows more than £3 billion of new public-private investment in the in UK life sciences over the last 12 months, since we launched the Life Sciences Sector Plan, part of the broader Modern Industrial Strategy.
The Plan set out the government’s ambition to make the UK the third largest life sciences sector economy in the world by 2035 and ensure that NHS patients are benefitting from new drugs and faster access to life saving medicines.
The life sciences sector is a key provider of growth and jobs in every corner of the nation, generating around £147 billion in turnover and employing some 360,000 people – more than double the population of Cambridge.
The government is also working to make sure that new medicines developed here can get to NHS patients sooner. Overall, the average wait time to set up clinical trials has dropped from 169 to 122 days in the first half of 2025 to 2026 and patients are also expected to get new medicines up to 6 months sooner under the new joint MHRA-NICE approval process.
