GSK Cuts Jobs to Fund £400m Cambridge R&D Centre
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- GSK is announcing sweeping job cuts as part of a £1.9bn cost-cutting programme targeting annual savings by 2029 to fund a £400m UK life sciences investment over three years.
- The Cambridge biomedical campus will house GSK's new 300,000-sq-ft R&D site being developed by Prologis, relocating more than 1,000 scientists, while the Stevenage R&D site closes by 2029 and Ware labs are upgraded.
- CEO Luke Miels, who took over from Emma Walmsley earlier this year, has been reviewing GSK's drug pipeline and plans to launch 20 phase 3 trials — double the number announced earlier this year — across oncology, respiratory, hepatology, vaccines and HIV.
- About 45% of GSK's targeted savings will come from cutting support services, procurement and processes, with another 40% from shifting resources away from established treatments toward new drug development.
- Prime Minister Andy Burnham welcomed the investment as "a vote of confidence in British business," calling it a boost for homegrown innovation and access to new medicines.
- GSK is closing Stevenage just five years after announcing a £400m extension of that same campus to build a cluster for new life sciences businesses.
- The announcement follows rival AstraZeneca's £300m UK investment — including a £200m Cambridge expansion — after AstraZeneca paused large-scale UK projects in 2025 over NHS drug pricing concerns.
Why it matters: GSK is sacrificing its Stevenage campus — £400m expanded there just five years ago — and shifting 40% of cost savings away from established drugs. Under new CEO Luke Miels, the company is doubling its phase 3 pipeline to 20, trading today's commercial base for faster drug launches.
