Price controls and taxes reduce investment in the pharmaceutical industries in the U.K.

See U.S., U.K. Strike Deal on Higher Drug Prices: Move marks victory for Trump administration campaign to get other countries to pay more for drugs by Natasha Dangoor of The WSJ. Excerpts:

"the U.K. was already under pressure from some of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies, which said in recent months that they are pausing new investments in the country. The companies cited uncompetitive drug-pricing controls that mean Britain spends far less on medicines than its peers. The U.K. spends 9% of its health budget on drugs versus a global average of 15%, according to the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry"

"In September, Merck scrapped a half-built $1.3 billion London research center and AstraZeneca, the country’s largest company by market capitalization, paused a $260 million investment in Cambridge."

"it has been losing this advantage. In 2009, Swiss pharma giant Novartis operated seven sites in the U.K., two of which were manufacturing sites, and employed 4,000 people. It now has one site, focused mostly on commercial operations, with 1,200 employees."

"The pharmaceutical industry in the U.K. is also battling a high clawback tax under which as much as a quarter or more of revenues from high-value drugs are given back to the government, compared with a far lower level in most European countries"