Animal rights extremists are deterring foreign drug makers from investing in Britain

LONDON, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Animal rights extremists are deterring foreign drug makers from investing in Britain and pose a serious threat to the nation's science base, the head of the country's second-biggest pharmaceuticals firm said on Wednesday.

"I don't know of any companies that have come to the UK in recent times, and I suspect that is because of worries about animal activism," AstraZeneca <AZN.L> Chief Executive Tom McKillop told reporters.

Britain has seen a wave of sometimes violent protests in recent years against pharmaceutical companies and contract research laboratories over the use of animals to test out new medicines.

McKillop said AstraZeneca itself had no plans to pull out of British-based research, but he added that his firm's investment had been rising faster in the United States and other countries than in the UK.

"Companies that are already here are unlikely to stump up sticks and go. But there is always competition for where you are located," he told a news conference, after giving an update on AstraZeneca's drug portfolio.

"We are seeing Asia emerging very strongly. China and India are becoming highly talented research bases in their own way."