Over the last 15 years, I’ve witnessed a seismic shift in the UK’s life sciences and pharmaceutical manufacturing landscape. What was once a thriving hub of innovation and production has steadily declined into something far less robust. This blog isn’t about nostalgia; it’s a timeline-based reflection of real closures, strategic pullouts, missed opportunities and cautious optimism. The question is: what is the UK’s true plan for life sciences?
A decade of retreat: Key site closures
- 2011: GSK Crawley closed
- 2011: Pfizer R&D site in Sandwich wound down (some PSSM operations remained but are now being shut too)
- 2013: GSK Dartford shut down
- 2013: Recipharm closed its site in Ashden-under-Lyne
- 2013: Sanofi closed its Dagenham site
- 2014: Novartis shut down its Horsham operations
- 2015: Sanofi closing its site in Fawdon, Newcastle (since been taken over by Accord Healthcare)
- 2017: Sanofi sold its Merial Animal Health Business to Boehringer Ingelheim at Pirbright exiting UK manufacturing entirely
- 2020: Pfizer closed its Havant site
- 2020: GSK Worthing phased out sterile antibiotics and injectable production
- 2022: Novartis shut down Grimsby, leaving no UK manufacturing presence
- 2023: Recipharm (formally Aesica) in Queenborough, Kent
- 2025: GSK Ulverston (although announced in 2021 and been trending backwards since)
Even when companies tried to hand over operations, it didn’t pan out. AstraZeneca’s Avonmouth site was sold to Avara, only for Avara to fold shortly after, and Sanofi spin-off EuroAPI in Haverhill has eventually led to a 4-year restructuring, which has recently been sold to Particle Dynamics. Each closure represents a loss not just of jobs, but of capability, infrastructure and national resilience.
Fragmentation, IR35, Brexit, and the global shift
There’s no single culprit. Rather, it’s a perfect storm. IR35 tax changes have made it harder for skilled pharma contractors, particularly engineers and scientists, to work flexibly in the UK, and Brexit created regulatory, economic and mobility challenges making it easier for companies to invest in Europe than in the UK due to the additional red tape, Almac built a facility in Dundalk to secure access to the European Union market shortly after Brexit to avoid any challenges. Many highly skilled professionals moved to Denmark and other EU countries. Then there’s global investment competition. Countries like the US, France, Germany, Switzerland and Ireland are winning with strong incentives, predictable regulation and targeted funding.
Trump-era tariffs, followed by government-backed announcements in the US, led to huge investments announced recently by J&J, Roche, Eli Lilly, AbbVie and Novartis all building or expanding domestic manufacturing. France and Germany have also committed major capital to new life science and pharma manufacturing facilities.
The R&D mirage: Building labs while letting manufacturing die?
While labs, accelerators and research campuses are being built across the ‘Golden Triangle’ of Oxford, Cambridge and London, we’re not seeing the same energy or investment in manufacturing, just yet.
A New Chapter? The 2025 Government Sector Plan
This update is welcome – and overdue. It includes:
- Enhanced investment in biomanufacturing and medtech facilities
- Commitments to streamline NHS access to new innovations
- Improved access to talent through regulatory and immigration flexibility
- A push to establish the UK as a global hub for life science manufacturing
If delivered with consistency and urgency, this could be the beginning of a strategic pivot, not just rhetoric.
Signs of life: A pivot or a pulse?
But lets remember the VMIC site in Oxford: initially envisioned as a world-class vaccine centre, ended up being sold to Catalent, who had ambitious plans for it. Now, however, the site has been mothballed. The fact that a 74,000 sq ft facility is sitting idle starkly illustrates the UK’s failure to follow through.
So, what’s the real plan, Kier?
We have the talent. We have the history. But we need political clarity, strategic investment, and a tax and regulatory environment that makes it easier, not harder, for life science businesses to thrive here.
If you’re an Engineer and looking for talent, you already know how tough it is. Roles are vanishing in some parts of the UK while booming in Denmark, France, Germany, or the US. The talent drain will continue unless the UK delivers both vision and execution.
Between two worlds
Got thoughts, questions, or opportunities to discuss in this space? I’d love to connect with others navigating the same changes across life science and pharma. Let’s keep the conversation going.
Nathan Sutton, Executive Director at Blackfield Associates
Links:
blackfieldpharma/https://staging.blackfieldassociates.com/contact-us
