A version of this article first appeared in CNBC's Healthy Returns newsletter, which brings the latest health-care news straight to your inbox.said it is doubling down on its investment in its U.S. business, a move that comes just one week after Donald Trump'splans for $2 billion in new spending on research and development, bringing its total capital investment in the country to $3.5 billion by the end of 2026.
The drugmaker is now one of the first major foreign companies to announce plans to invest in the U.S. after Trump's victory.But AstraZeneca declined to explicitly say whether there was a link between Trump winning a second term and its increased spending in the U.S. That legislation, signed into law in 2022, includes provisions that aim to lower prescription drug costs for seniors, such as allowingwith manufacturers. AstraZeneca and other drugmakers have acknowledged that the IRA, particularly its Medicare price talks, is a headwind to their businesses. AstraZeneca's diabetes treatment Farxiga was among the 10But Soriot on Tuesday pushed back on the idea that the company's decision was based around potential changes to the IRA.
"It's more a general belief that the economy will remain strong. And if you have a strong economy, hopefully, that drives investments in innovation, sure, in our industry, but also many other industries," he told reporters."We want to tap into this innovation in the U.S."on all goods imported to the U.S. from China. But Soriot called his tariff policy"irrelevant" to AstraZeneca because the company does not source products from China for the U.S.
"This is not like a turnaround, this is not a distressed system," HATCo CEO Dr. Marc Harrison said in a January interview.