AstraZeneca, GSK, J&J, Accord, Merck and Thermo Fisher made the FT/Statista list as UK life sciences investment continues to shift across R&D, manufacturing and services.
It is a busy time for the UK’s life sciences industry. Inward foreign direct investment reached £2.1 billion ($2.8 billion) in 2024, which was a 164% increase from the previous year. With pharmaceutical R&D by UK businesses reaching £9.3 billion ($12.5 billion) and an additional £4.5 billion ($6.05 billion) raised in equity finance, capital continues to flow into research, drug development and company growth.
In a recent press release, the UK government said more than £80 million ($107.53) in new life sciences investments would support over 500 jobs. The investments help strengthen the UK’s medicine supply, supporting domestic production of vital treatments, including medicines for people living with bipolar disorder.
However, financial growth is only one metric of a healthy ecosystem. To provide a workplace perspective, the Financial Times and Statista’s UK’s Best Employers 2026 ranking surveyed approximately 20,000 employees on critical factors, including salary, development potential, and working conditions.
In our blog, we look at the six companies featured in FT ranking’s “Drugs & Biotechnology” category. These highly rated employers — ranging from R&D giants to manufacturing leaders — are translating their UK investments into operational growth and clinical progress.
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AstraZeneca
Rank: 37 | FT score: 88.90 | Cambridge
AstraZeneca is the highest-ranked pharma and biotech employer on the list. They have global headquarters in Cambridge, home to their flagship R&D facility, The Discovery Centre. Their Macclesfield site is a science, technology and manufacturing hub with about 5,200 people.
AstraZeneca’s pipeline includes 186 projects across major disease areas. In April 2026, the company announced a £300 million UK investment that restarted a previously paused £200 million ($268.82 million) Cambridge expansion and added £100 million ($134.41 million) for a Macclesfield “lab of the future” using digital and data tools in drug development. The move followed earlier UK pullbacks, including the scrapping of a £450 million ($604.85 million) vaccine manufacturing expansion in Speke, and Reuters reported that the new investment would help future-proof about 1,000 jobs.
GSK
Rank: 71 | FT score: 85.95 | London
GSK is a London-based biopharma company focused on respiratory, immunology and inflammation, oncology, HIV and infectious diseases. Its 2026 pipeline activity has included two acquisitions that add to its allergy and pulmonary hypertension work.
In March 2026, GSK acquired RAPT Therapeutics, adding ozureprubart, a long-acting anti-IgE antibody being developed for food allergy protection. GSK also completed its $950 million acquisition of 35Pharma in April 2026. The deal added HS235, an investigational medicine that completed Phase I healthy volunteer studies and is being developed for pulmonary arterial hypertension and pulmonary hypertension linked to heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.
Johnson & Johnson
Rank: 115 | FT score: 83.50 | Edinburgh
Johnson & Johnson operates in the UK through innovative medicine and medtech. Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine UK focuses on oncology, immunology, neuroscience and pulmonary hypertension.
Last year, J&J closed its acquisition of Intra-Cellular Therapies, adding Caplyta (lumateperone) and a clinical-stage neuroscience pipeline. It also completed its acquisition of Halda Therapeutics, adding HLD-0915, a clinical-stage oral therapy for prostate cancer.
Accord Healthcare
Rank: 230 | FT score: 78.37 | Barnstaple
Accord Healthcare is a generics, biosimilars and specialty medicines company with a major UK manufacturing and supply footprint. According to their website, Accord’s UK factories produce more than 4.79 billion tablets annually, with specialty work spanning oncology, hematology, autoimmune, critical care and central nervous system medicines.
The UK government revealed that Accord plans to invest more than £45 million ($60.48 million) in its Barnstaple site. The funding is expected to support local production of new treatments, including medicines for people living with bipolar disorder, while strengthening the UK medicines supply. Accord’s UK medicines account for close to 10% of all NHS prescriptions.
Merck
Rank: 339 | FT score: 75.35 | Feltham
Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, not to be confused with US-based MSD/Merck & Co., operates across healthcare, life science and electronics. Its UK site says the company has more than 1,200 employees across 11 UK sites.
On the clinical side, Merck announced in May 2026 that it had started a Phase III study of Precem-TcT, an investigational antibody-drug conjugate being evaluated in metastatic colorectal cancer.
Thermo Fisher Scientific
Rank: 487 | FT score: 71.90 | Altrincham
Thermo Fisher Scientific supports pharma, biotech and life sciences companies through lab tools, clinical research services, drug development support and pharmaceutical manufacturing services. Its brands include Thermo Scientific, Invitrogen, Fisher Scientific, Patheon and PPD.
In 2026, Thermo Fisher acquired Clario, a clinical trial endpoint data solutions company, in a deal valued at $8.875 billion. Clario will become part of its Laboratory Products and Biopharma Services segment, adding digital clinical evidence tools across drug development. Thermo Fisher said Clario’s platform has supported about 70% of FDA and EMA novel drug approvals over the past decade.
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