AstraZeneca must operate at “Chinese speed” to avoid the fate of the western automotive industry, which lost out to more innovative rivals, the drug company’s chief executive has warned. Pascal Soriot, the highest-paid leader of a FTSE 100 company, said the US and European pharmaceutical sectors must focus on increasing the speed of innovation to keep pace with China’s rising pharmaceutical industry.
Urgent call for faster innovation
“We have to make sure we don’t fall behind,” Soriot said. “What we are learning ourselves is we have to move much faster. We always talk about Chinese speed in our company, and we want to operate in Chinese speed.” He cited the automotive industry as a cautionary example, where western companies focused on petrol engines while Chinese firms dominated electric vehicle sales.
AstraZeneca announced on Monday it was confident of hitting its 2030 growth targets, expecting annual sales of $80bn (£60bn), up from $59bn last year. The British company, headquartered in Cambridge, reported revenues of £30.7bn in the first half of 2026, a 6% increase at constant exchange rates compared to the same period a year earlier.
Pipeline strength despite setbacks
Soriot said the company’s pipeline of new drugs was “unmatched”, putting it on track to meet growth targets despite the surprise failure of Wainua, a major heart disease drug prospect, in clinical trials earlier this month. “We have to accept to fail some of the time,” Soriot said. “Biology is biology.”
He acknowledged that dominant pharmaceutical companies in Europe and the US needed to be aware of the potential challenge from Chinese competitors, who are investing heavily in novel technologies such as antibody drug conjugates and cell therapy.
AI and job concerns
Soriot downplayed the risk AI poses to jobs, arguing it could increase drug development speed, especially in designing trial protocols. He said AI tools would help improve productivity and enable economic growth. “This story about AI killing jobs is a bit of a fake story,” Soriot said. “I can tell you it makes me faster and smarter.”
Engagement with UK government
Soriot said AstraZeneca would engage with the UK government under its new leader, Andy Burnham, to seek clarity on a deal with the US that could result in the NHS paying billions more for medicines. He said it was too early to say whether the leadership change would affect the deal, struck under pressure from Donald Trump, which analysis suggests could lead to 229,000 excess deaths in England. “We need to understand their priorities and where the priorities are,” Soriot said. “You have to establish your priorities and then fund them.”
