GSK to cut jobs amid £1.9bn cost-cutting plan and bid for faster drug development

GSK is to move more than 1,000 of its scientists to its new Cambridge research and development centre. Illustration: GSK View image in fullscreen GSK is to move more than 1,000 of its scientists to its new Cambridge research and development centre. Illustration: GSK GSK to cut jobs amid £1.9bn cost-cutting plan and bid for faster drug development Pharmaceuticals company is investing £400m in UK life sciences and moving scientists to new Cambridge R&D site Business live – latest updates The British drugmaker GSK is to announce sweeping job cuts as part of a £1.9bn cost-cutting programme to pay for a £400m investment in UK life sciences over the next three years, including in a new research and development centre in Cambridge, as it looks to develop drugs more quickly under its new chief executive. The pharmaceuticals company announced on Tuesday it will move more than 1,000 of its scientists to its new site on the Cambridge biomedical campus. It will close its R&D site in Stevenage in Hertfordshire by 2029, while upgrading its R&D laboratories at nearby Ware and moving some employees there. Luke Miels, the GSK chief executive, said: “This investment will accelerate our R&D and help us deliver new, competitive products. It integrates GSK further into one of the world’s leading centres of knowledge and demonstrates the attractiveness of the UK’s life sciences ecosystem.” AstraZeneca boss urges western drugmakers to move at ‘Chinese speed’ Read more GSK’s new 300,000-sq ft (28,000 sq metre) Cambridge site, which is being developed by the warehouse builder Prologis, is on one of the largest biomedical campuses in Europe. More than 22,000 people working in life sciences and more than 470 biopharma, biotech and AI companies are based there, and more than a million patients treated there each year. View image in fullscreen The Cambridge site ‘will help us deliver new, competitive products’, said GSK’s chief executive, Luke Miels. Illustration: GSK The company said the site would feature state of the art, tech-enabled labs to support its focus on research in areas including oncology, respiratory, hepatology, vaccines and HIV. The move will bring more scientists to the UK’s “golden triangle” – Cambridge, Oxford and London – where GSK said its teams would have access to a “world-class ecosystem of biomedical research, patient care and academia”. The company’s investment was welcomed by Andy Burnham, who described it as a “vote of confidence in British business”. The prime minister said it was “a boost for homegrown innovation and expertise. And a step towards more people getting access to new medicines and cutting-edge treatments that will change lives for the better.” GSK’s investment announcement comes just months after its rival AstraZeneca , Britain’s biggest drugmaker, made a surprise U-turn and announced a £300m investment in the UK , including a £200m expansion in Cambridge. It had previously paused large-scale projects in its home country in 2025, a