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The head of a UK PR company representing American drugmakers left his job after the US embassy in London raised concerns about online posts in which he criticised President Donald Trump, who has lobbied for Britain to spend more on medicines.
Gavin Megaw’s exit from Hanover last month came after the US embassy ceased contact with the PR firm and complained about his LinkedIn posts to the American Pharmaceutical Group, according to a document seen by the FT and a person familiar with the matter.
The APG — which represents drugmakers such as Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson and Gilead in the UK and uses Hanover to provide strategic communications — was concerned about damage to its relationship with the US embassy, the person said.
The embassy has been instrumental in forcing the UK government to increase NHS spending on drugs after Trump accused European countries of “freeloading” off US innovation and threatened pharmaceutical tariffs.
Drugmakers have simultaneously been pushing ministers to pay more for medicines while complaining that a clawback tax on their UK sales unexpectedly soared last year.
Megaw, who stepped down as president and managing director of Hanover in late January, has deleted the LinkedIn posts. But snippets still visible on search engine Google show Megaw posted about a “ludicrously meandering press conference” by Trump.
Another post referred to “another day and another Trump storm, this time over the Chagos Islands”, adding that governments around the world were “stuck in the Trump Trap”.
The person briefed on the situation said the US embassy had been “hopping mad” over the posts, adding that “the clear insinuation was that their help to the APG would be impacted”.
“The US embassy insisted that APG fire Hanover . . . or they wouldn’t deal with them anymore,” they said, adding that the APG viewed its relationship with the embassy as “key” because “they’ve allowed pharmaceutical companies to overcome Treasury resistance to increasing drug prices”.
The APG ultimately dropped Hanover, with the PR firm now working to the end of its contract.
In September, the FT reported that Warren Stephens, US ambassador to the UK, urged chancellor Rachel Reeves at a private dinner to offer a better deal on medicines pricing to global drugmakers.
As part of a deal signed by London and Washington this year, the UK agreed to invest about 25 per cent more in innovative, safe and effective treatments — the first big increase in medicines spending in more than two decades. The agreement would cost the health service in England an initial £1bn over the first three years, the government acknowledged this month.
APG and Hanover said: “The contract between the American Pharmaceutical Group and Hanover will conclude at its scheduled expiry following an end-of-cycle supplier review.”
The US embassy and Megaw declined to comment.