GSK Cuts Jobs, Pours £400m Into Cambridge R&D Hub
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- GSK is launching a £1.9bn three-year cost-cutting programme alongside £400m in UK life sciences investment over the same period, including a new 300,000-sq ft R&D centre on the Cambridge biomedical campus being developed by Prologis.
- GSK will move more than 1,000 scientists to Cambridge and close its Stevenage R&D site by 2029, while upgrading Ware laboratories — just five years after announcing a £400m expansion of the Stevenage campus to build a life sciences cluster.
- New CEO Luke Miels, who took over from Emma Walmsley at the start of the year, said GSK now intends to launch 20 phase 3 trials — double the number announced earlier this year — to develop competitive new medicines more quickly.
- GSK said roughly 45% of the £1.9bn annual savings would come from cutting support services, procurement and processes, while about 40% would come from shifting resources away from established treatments to focus on new drugs.
- Prime Minister Andy Burnham welcomed the investment as "a vote of confidence in British business," saying it was a boost for homegrown innovation and would expand access to new medicines.
- The announcement comes months after rival AstraZeneca made a surprise U-turn with a £300m UK investment, including £200m for Cambridge expansion, after pausing large-scale UK projects in 2025 citing frustrations over NHS drug pricing.
- GSK shares rose 6% on Tuesday, making it one of the biggest risers on the London stock market.
Why it matters: GSK's global workforce faces redundancies as the company redirects spending from established treatments to new-drug R&D, while the UK gains a 1,000-scientist Cambridge hub. The Stevenage closure — just five years after a £400m expansion there — and a 6% share-price rally show investors backing the pivot toward the Cambridge-Oxford-London "golden triangle."
