Business
UK drug price rises ‘necessary’, says Lord Patrick Vallance
The price the NHS pays for medicines will need to rise to stop a wave of pharmaceutical investment leaving the UK, science minister Patrick Vallance has said.
His comments follow several recent announcements from some of the world’s largest drug companies either pausing or scrapping UK projects.
Critics in the sector say low prices for new drugs, a lack of government investment, and tariff pressure from US President Donald Trump have been pushing firms away from the UK.
Lord Vallance told the BBC “price increases are going to be a necessary part” of solving that problem.
“Where the additional money would come from to pay higher prices is a matter for the department of health and the Treasury to figure out,” he added.
Lord Vallance was speaking at the opening of US vaccine giant Moderna’s new centre in Oxfordshire where millions of flu and Covid jabs will be made.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who cut the ribbon at the development project on Wednesday, told the BBC there was “a live conversation between government departments and the pharma industry” on drug pricing.
Lord Vallance added: “We must end up with a deal of some sort… because it’s in the interest of the economy, it’s in the interest of patients.”
According to the government, Moderna is investing more than a £1bn in UK research and development as part of a 10-year partnership to create new treatments jobs and boost pandemic resilience.
Its commitment, made three years ago, stands in contrast to Merck’s decision this month to scrap a £1bn project in Liverpool and AstraZeneca’s pausing of a £200m investment in Cambridge, also this month.
Meanwhile, Novartis said in August that NHS patients will lose access to new cutting-edge treatments because of skyrocketing costs.
It said it was not considering the UK for major new investments in manufacturing, research, or advanced technology because of “systemic barriers”.
Another pharmaceutical firm Eli Lily told the Financial Times on Wednesday the UK was “probably the worst country in Europe” for drug prices.
Over the last 10 years, UK spending on medicines has fallen from 15% of the NHS budget to 9%, while the rest of the developed world spends between 14% and 20%.
Elsewhere, Trump has put pressure on pharmaceutical companies to lower prices and invest more in the US.
Last month, talks broke down between Streeting and pharma firms over the cost of medicines for the UK.
The UK government said at the time it had put forward a “generous and unprecedented offer to accelerate growth” in the pharmaceutical sector.
Streeting previously insisted that he would not allow pharma companies to “rip off” taxpayers and described drug companies’ approach as “short-sighted”.
However, he struck a more conciliatory tone on Wednesday saying “it’s a live conversation – not just domestically with the industry but internationally with the US as well”.
“There’s an intersection between the growth ambitions of the government, the health ambitions of the government, the trade ambitions of the government and bilateral relations with the US,” he added.
Business
Nike shares fall 9% on weak outlook, expected 20% sales decline in China
A Nike logo is displayed at a Nike store in Austin, Texas, Feb. 5, 2026.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images
Shares of Nike fell in extended trading Tuesday after the retailer warned sales will fall for the rest of the calendar year, led by an expected 20% decline in its key China market during the current quarter.
Chief Financial Officer Matt Friend said during the company’s earnings call that Nike expects sales for its current fiscal fourth quarter to drop between 2% and 4%, compared with Wall Street estimates of a 1.9% increase, according to LSEG.
For the duration of the calendar year, Friend said, the company expects sales to fall by a low single-digit percentage, led by growth in North America and offset by declines in China. That outlook wasn’t comparable to estimates.
Nike beat expectations across the business on both the top and bottom lines for its fiscal third quarter, but its guidance left investors with more questions about how long its turnaround will take. Friend also cautioned that Nike’s guidance was based off of where the global economic picture stands today — and it could change given recent geopolitical volatility.
“We also recognize that the environment around us has become increasingly dynamic, and we could experience unplanned volatility due to the disruption in the Middle East, rising oil prices and other factors that could impact either input costs or consumer behavior,” said Friend. “We are focused on what we can control.”
Shares fell more than 8% in extended trading.
Here’s how the world’s largest sneaker company did for its fiscal third quarter, compared with estimates from analysts polled by LSEG:
- Earnings per share: 35 cents vs. 28 cents expected
- Revenue: $11.28 billion vs. $11.24 billion expected
The company’s reported net income for the three-month period that ended Feb. 28 was $520 million, or 35 cents per share. That’s a 35% decline from $794 million, or 54 cents per share, a year earlier. That plunge came as Nike’s gross profit margin slid 1.3 percentage points to 40.2%, “primarily due to higher tariffs in North America,” the company said.
Sales were flat at $11.28 billion, compared to $11.27 billion last year.
While Nike beat expectations on the top and bottom lines, it posted a mixed picture regionally. Nike’s largest market of North America continued to show steady growth, as revenue climbed 3% to $5.03 billion, but that was just shy of Wall Street’s expectations of $5.04 billion, according to StreetAccount.
Meanwhile, Nike’s Greater China market continued to shrink, with revenue down 7% to $1.62 billion during the quarter. Still, that total beat analyst estimates of $1.50 billion, according to StreetAccount.
Nike is continuing to work through a colossal turnaround under CEO Elliott Hill. About a year and a half into his tenure, Hill has made strides in repairing parts of the business, but has been clear that it’ll take time for the entire company to improve given the retailer’s scale and complexity.
He reiterated that expectation on Tuesday, saying in a news release that “the pace of progress is different across the portfolio.”
“The areas we prioritized first continue to drive momentum,” Hill said. “The work is not finished, but the direction is clear, our teams are moving with focus and urgency, and our foundation is getting even stronger to build the future of NIKE.”
Friend said Nike’s turnaround efforts “will continue to impact results over the balance of the calendar year.”
Nike’s recovery was already coming at a tough time as a global trade war dented its efforts to improve profitability and drive sales from inflation-weary shoppers. But now the athletic company will have to contend with a new war in the Middle East that’s already led to rising gas prices and is expected to send consumer prices even higher, which could push shoppers to cut back on nice-to-haves like new clothes and shoes to save money elsewhere.
“We continue to be encouraged by the momentum in North America. We’ve got a strong order book for summer,” Friend said. “We’re seeing positive signs and sell through. We’re not seeing a consumer reaction to what’s going on in the Middle East at this point in time, in North America.”
Hill has focused in part on revitalizing Nike’s business with wholesale partners as opposed to direct sales on its website and in stores. Wholesale revenue climbed 5% to $6.5 billion.
Meanwhile, direct sales slid 4% to $4.5 billion.
Business
Tech giant Oracle makes ‘significant’ job cuts
It is thought that thousands of people may have lost their jobs at Oracle, one of the world’s largest tech companies.
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Business
Oil nears highest price since start of Iran war
The US-Israel Iran war has halted almost all traffic in a key waterway and the price Brent crude has surged.
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