Major pharmaceutical companies including AstraZeneca, Merck, and Eli Lilly have withheld or halted planned investments totaling hundreds of millions of dollars in the UK life sciences sector. AstraZeneca paused a $271 million expansion in Cambridge and canceled a vaccine manufacturing facility project, citing inadequate government support. Similarly, Merck scrapped a billion-dollar London R&D center. These investment freezes highlight growing concerns about UK’s drug pricing policies and regulatory environment, potentially impacting its ambitions as a global life sciences hub.