Overview

• Dave Ricks said Britain would miss out on new drugs and investment unless prices rise and the VPAG clawback is scrapped.
• The government’s VPAG framework requires companies to rebate a share of UK revenues, and media reports say talks on reforms are deadlocked.
• A UK government spokesperson said the country remains focused on attracting life sciences investment and is open to further engagement with industry.
• Drugmakers have paused or cancelled more than £1.8bn in UK projects this year, including Merck’s London research exit and AstraZeneca’s halted £200m Cambridge expansion, with Bristol Myers Squibb warning it may withhold a new schizophrenia drug.
• Lilly paused UK shipments of Mounjaro before raising the private price by up to 170%, and the company unveiled a $6.5bn Houston plant that Ricks said was not timed to the president’s Sept. 29 pricing deadline.