Councillor Louise Gittins, chair of the newly formed Cheshire and Warrington Combined Authority, has hailed the region as a “world-leader” following AstraZeneca’s £100m Macclesfield investment announcement, which she described as as “vote of confidence for region.”
The pharmaceutical giant, the UK’s biggest drugmaker, announced earlier this week that its Macclesfield site would be one of two UK sites to receive a share of a new £300m investment from the company, which had previously paused plans for a £200m expansion of its research site in Cambridge and scrapped plans to invest £450m in a Liverpool City Region vaccine plant after reportedly becoming “disillusioned” with the business environment, including the availability of new medicines on the NHS and drug pricing.
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Gittins was only appointed chair of the new combined authority at its inaugural meeting last week, and other board members include the leaders and deputy leaders of Cheshire West and Chester, Cheshire East Council and Warrington Council.
On receiveing the welcome news to kick start her time in the new role she said: “AstraZeneca’s decision invest £300 million in the UK, including £100m at its site in Macclesfield, shows Cheshire and Warrington is a world-leader in life sciences and capable of attracting global investment.
“Today’s announcement is a vote of confidence in our region – creating and sustaining highly-skilled jobs, and strengthening our reputation as a national leader in advanced manufacturing and research.
“The new Combined Authority’s mission is to unlock growth across the region, and we stand ready to build our strengths to create more opportunity and attract investment for local people, places and businesses.”
Announcing the new investment earlier this week, AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal Soriot said: “We are investing a total of £300m in the UK, which includes investment in our Macclesfield site, including a lab of the future that will use digital and data tools to advance drug development.”
He also thanked the government “for their effort to improve access for patients, including four new [drug] approvals since the beginning of the year, and we look forward to further enhancing the access and the reimbursement environment and build a strong life sciences sector.”
