* Investment follows US-UK deal aimed at increased drug

prices

* Starmer says investment will future-proof 1,000 jobs

* AstraZeneca ( AZN ) had pulled back on UK investments last year

(Adds quote from AstraZeneca ( AZN ) CEO in paragraphs 5 and 7)

LONDON, April 29 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Keir Starmer

said on Wednesday that Britain's biggest company AstraZeneca ( AZN )

would invest 300 million pounds ($405 million) in the

country, after pausing large-scale projects last year.

The investment follows praise from drugmakers including

AstraZeneca ( AZN ) for a U.S.-UK agreement aimed at increasing medicine

prices in Britain in line with the Trump administration's new

U.S. pricing policies. The deal was finalised earlier in April.

"I can announce a significant new investment by AstraZeneca ( AZN ),

investing 300 million pounds in UK life sciences, made possible

by the pharmaceutical arrangement we have struck with the United

States," Starmer told lawmakers in parliament.

Companies including AstraZeneca ( AZN ) have warned that Europe

risks missing out on new medicines under the new policy

environment, known as most-favored-nation pricing.

"We want to recognize the importance of the U.S.-UK deal on

pharmaceuticals, and the leading role this plays in ensuring

increased spending on new medicines and driving access to new

therapies," AstraZeneca ( AZN ) CEO Pascal Soriot said on a call with

reporters shortly after Starmer's announcement.

AstraZeneca ( AZN ) earlier on Wednesday reported earnings that beat

expectations, helped by demand for its cancer and rare disease

drugs.

The investment will be used to complete the Rosalind

Franklin building on AstraZeneca's ( AZN ) campus in Cambridge, eastern

England, and to develop a lab of the future that will use

digital and data tools to advance drug development.

Starmer said the investment would future-proof 1,000 jobs in

Cambridge and Macclesfield, northern England.

Last year, AstraZeneca ( AZN ) pulled back on a 200-million-pound

investment plan in Cambridge, home to one of Britain's leading

life sciences hubs. It also scrapped plans for a

450-million-pound vaccine manufacturing plant in northern

England after government support was cut.

($1 = 0.7405 pounds)