Almost half (46%) of the United Kingdom’s drug companies expect to cut back on clinical trials in the coming year because of continued uncertainty about future arrangements for pricing drugs.

In a survey of more than 100 companies earlier this month on behalf of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry and the Confederation of British Industry three quarters said they had little confidence in the current UK market environment, and 83% expected things to get worse in the next year.

The survey also showed that 30% of drug companies expect to cut staff in the next year, and more than …