AstraZeneca ‘very disappointed’ over axed £450m Liverpool vaccine project

Britain’s biggest drugmaker, which is also the country’s largest listed company, said revenues rose by 21% to £43bn in 2024. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

AstraZeneca’s boss has broken its silence since ditching a £450m vaccine plant expansion in Liverpool a week ago, saying the drugmaker was “very disappointed” to have been unable to make a business case for the investment.

Pascal Soriot told reporters on Thursday: “This is one of those cases and we see that regularly, where we could not make the business case work … and we needed a certain level of support to make this economically viable. And that was not possible for the government to justify, which we totally understand. On our side, we cannot justify this either. We were all very disappointed, but that’s business life.”