Merck Memo £ 1 billion London Research Center

Wednesday 10 September 2025 17:57

Share

• 
  Share on Facebook
• 
  Share on Twitter
• 
  Share on LinkedIn
• 
  Share on WhatsApp
• 
  Share in the email

Merck has pulled out of the London drug research center £ 1 billion in the latest blows for government growth agenda.

The US Pharmacy giant will dismiss 127 staff together with leaving a construction project, which has been set to be opened at King’s Cross in 2027. The company warns Britain will be left behind all of Europe for expenses for health research unless conditions are more interesting to invest.

“Unless changes are carried out in the operating environment, the Undentalization is corrected, and investment is placed back in the right place, more and more companies will make this kind of decision,” Merck said.

“Simply put, Britain is not internationally competitive.”

The industry loses patience with labor

This step follows a similar decision by the drug -making firm based in Cambridge Astrazeneca earlier this year, after leaving the £ 450 million plan to expand its vaccine production facilities in the UK.

Then in that year, Astrazeneca said it would invest $ 50 billion in manufacturing and R&D in the US, adding that the decision “supports our trust in American innovation in biopharmacy.” FTSE 100 constituents are also understood that they have considered moving the main list from London to New York, a step that will give further blow to England.

Merck, known as MSD, first launched a plan for the new King’s Cross facility in 2017 as part of the new British headquarters, with construction starting in 2023. Dozens of more scientists are expected to be employed ahead of the central opening.

Workers have vowed to make growth as a middle part of his mission after entering the office last year, but so far it has suffered from the closing waves of plants and thousands of layoffs throughout the country.

That includes the closure of trafigura biodiesel plants in Lincolnshire in February, as well as the closest bioethanol plants owned by ABF. A chemical factory in Teesside is closed, which causes hundreds of job loss, while the Lindsey oil refinery collapses into bankruptcy.

Last week, the former Darktrace boss, Poppy Gustprom, stopped as Minister of British Investment after only one year in that role, in the signs of the government’s efforts to attract inner investment in the deaf ears.