Drugmakers AstraZeneca, GSK to join Starmer delegation to China, sources say

By Andrew MacAskill, Maggie Fick and Bhanvi Satija

LONDON, Jan 26 (Reuters) – UK-based drugmakers AstraZeneca and GSK will join British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s trip to China this week, sources said, as Britain seeks to strengthen ties with Beijing at a time of strained relations with Washington.

AstraZeneca’s CEO Pascal Soriot and GSK’s board chair Jonathan Symonds were expected to be on the business delegation, the two people familiar with the matter said.

AstraZeneca and GSK declined to comment.

Starmer’s trip comes amid tensions between Britain and its traditional closest ally, the United States, over President Donald Trump’s unpredictable approach to trade and defence. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney also visited Beijing this month and hailed improving ties with China.

PLANS TO REVIVE ‘UK-CHINA CEO COUNCIL’

The British government has not released a list of executives expected to travel to China, but sources told Reuters last week that Britain and China planned to revive a “UK-China CEO Council” of British and Chinese companies, with AstraZeneca among them.

AstraZeneca, the largest company on London’s FTSE 100 by market value, has operated in China for more than 30 years and has invested billions of dollars there during Soriot’s tenure as CEO since 2012.

GSK has a smaller presence in China. It signed an agreement with China’s Hengrui Pharma last year to develop a dozen medicines aimed at respiratory and other conditions.

Western drugmakers increasingly view China not only as a large sales market but also as a rapidly rising source of biotech innovation.

AstraZeneca announced a $2.5 billion Beijing research and development hub in March last year, its second R&D centre in China after a Shanghai site opened in 2024.

Soriot has cited China’s blend of scientific capability and rapid execution — what he called “China speed” — as helping to accelerate drug development, including by enabling faster progress in R&D and large-scale clinical trials.

(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill; Additional reporting by Maggie Fick and Bhanvi Satija; Editing by Louise Heavens and Alex Richardson)