Make life easier or we're off, drugs chief warns
Zeneca, has issued a bleak warning to European governments: improve
the business environment, or we'll take our investment elsewhere.
The warning comes after Astra Zeneca's research and development head Martin Nicklassen, appeared to hint that the company would move its business from Sweden, where it has about 5000 researchers.
With European sales totalling $6.7 billion (€5.5 billion) in 2003, AstraZeneca is ranked fifth in the European pharmaceutical market with a market share of 5 per cent. AstraZeneca's investment alone in the UK (from 1999 and planned until 2006) is set to approach a potential £1 billion, with the creation of well over 550 new science related jobs.
Nicklassen's complaint was centred on Sweden's government, who advised doctors to prescribe older, cheaper drugs rather than the new drugs Astra Zeneca had spent millions on developing.
However Sir Tom McKillop, chief executive of Astrazeneca said: "We did not say we would move sites. Nor was it a threat. I've said all I'm going to say on this."
"If you look at the history of industry, where it is not welcome and does not have a receptive market, there will be a loss of competitiveness."
Most governments in Europe control the price and reimbursement of medicines after taking into account the medical, financial and social impact of a product. This budget-based approach reflects increasing constraints in overall healthcare spending. Companies traditionally make their money in the US as drugs are priced and prescribed in a manner reflecting market forces
Hank McKinnell, chairman of Pfizer, is another executive who has cited European healthcare regulators for a downturn in the European industry. He blamed price controls and restrictions placed on producers.
