As the United Kingdom juggles industry concerns about the region’s waning appeal and competitiveness, Eisai is getting a lift from a production-tinged fund that the British government first unveiled in 2024.
With added support from the U.K.’s Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund (LSIMF), Eisai is plugging roughly 48 million pounds sterling ($64.5 million) into an upgrade of its manufacturing plant in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, just a short drive north of London.
When asked about the specific contribution through the fund, an Eisai spokesperson told Fierce that its investment was "supported and enabled by the LSIMF grant."
Now equipped with financial backing from the British government, Eisai plans to level up (PDF) the oral solid dose facility with supply chain and packaging capabilities for drugs that require a cold chain, including its Alzheimer’s disease medication Leqembi (lecanemab), which won an initial U.K. approval in the summer of 2024.
Once the project is complete, the Hatfield plant will be equipped to produce temperature-controlled injectable and infused medications, Eisai said in a release. The move will also help Eisai pivot away from third-party contract manufacturers to what it termed an “in-house packaging model” in the U.K.
The project, which will move forward in stages, will include the build-out of ambient and cold-chain warehouses at the site, plus new packaging buildings, packaging lines and an expansion of the Hatfield facility’s goods receipt and dispatch functions, according to Eisai.
The expansion will bolster the Hatfield site’s ability to serve multiple regions, including Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Eisai said.
“This strategic investment reflects our long-term commitment to strengthening resilient supply capabilities for our innovative medicines and pipeline products, while further deepening our long-standing relationship with the United Kingdom,” Haruo Naito, Eisai’s CEO, said in a statement Monday.
Eisai’s facility upgrade is being assisted by a contribution from the U.K.’s LSIMF, a grant vehicle unveiled in 2024 designed to beef up the country’s life sciences manufacturing abilities and safeguard against future health emergencies, such as a global pandemic.
England’s government has committed up to 520 million pounds ($699 million) for the fund, which also touches on diagnostics and medical device manufacturing support alongside that for human medicines.
Eisai’s show of support will likely be warmly received by the U.K., which faced a seemingly concerted pullback or pause of pharma investments last year amid industry frustrations over the local life sciences policy environment and potential changes on the table.
In late April, hometown hero AstraZeneca resumed plans for a roughly $270 million project in Cambridge, England, that it had put on ice last year. Since then, updates to the U.K.’s voluntary rebate scheme for controlling drug costs have eased some industry concerns, plus negotiations with the Trump administration in the U.S. have won the United Kingdom enviable placement amid the White House’s tariff barrage.
Under its U.S. deal, which exempts British prescription drugs imported to the U.S. from tariffs, the U.K. has agreed to step up the amount it pays for new drugs by a significant 25%, appealing to the industry and playing ball with President Trump’s assertions that other countries haven’t been paying their fair share for innovative medicines.
“We want to recognize the importance of the U.S.-U.K. deal on pharmaceuticals, and the leading role this plays in ensuring increased spending on new medicines and driving access to new therapies,” AZ CEO Pascal Soriot said at the time his company announced that the project was back on.
As for Leqembi, Eisai’s key Alzheimer’s med covered in the Hatfield facility expansion, the drug was cleared in the U.K. to treat mild cognitive impairment and mild dementia in certain Alzheimer's disease patients back in mid-2024. The drug also picked up a British IV maintenance dosing nod last November.
Despite regulatory clearance in the country, access to Leqembi in the U.K. is presently limited by the fact that it is not available through the National Health Service. In August of 2024, the country’s drug price watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), found that the benefits of Eisai’s drug were too small to justify the cost of coverage under the U.K.’s public health service.
But earlier this year, NICE acquiesced to company appeals and agreed to reconsider its decision on Leqembi, as well as Eli Lilly’s rival Alzheimer’s med Kisunla (donanemab), offering the potential for the drugs to become more widely available in the country in the future.
Eisai's spokesperson told Fierce that the NICE appraisal committee is expected to meet on July 8, with an outcome slated for announcement around August.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional details from an Eisai spokesperson.