30 August, 2017
British business secretary Greg Clark will give details of how 188 million dollars of previously announced funding, spread over four years, will support priorities including advanced therapies and medicines, vaccines development, and manufacturing.
"The life sciences sector is of critical importance to the United Kingdom economy and United Kingdom health - with over 5,000 companies, almost 235,000 employees and a turnover of £64bn in 2016 - and the government is committed to continuing to help this sector go from strength to strength", said Mr Clark.
The review, by British-Canadian geneticist Sir John Bell, will set out proposals to encourage growth and investment as the Government tries to alleviate concerns about the negative consequences of Brexit on scientific research, academia and the pharmaceutical industry. It is the second of these sectors for which the government has published a detailed plan on support - the first was battery technology.
Prof Sir John Bell will shortly detail the outline findings of an independent sector-led review into the United Kingdom life sciences industry at University of Birmingham. "The government is committed to continuing to help this sector go from strength to strength", he added.
"We stand ready to continue engagement with government to ensure that this strategy can pave the way for an impactful sector deal that can help deliver the BIA's vision to establish the United Kingdom as the third global cluster for life sciences".
At the heart of the plan are five themes, the first of which is increasing and sustaining funding for basic research and boosting the country's clinical trials capability.
Recommendations include reinforcing the United Kingdom science offering with a funding boost for basic science and also by improving the country's clinical trial capabilities, and ensuring the country has the talent and skills to underpin future life sciences success through a reinforced skills action plan across the NHS, commercial and third sectors.
The plan also includes £30 million in funding to establish the Advanced Therapies Treatment Centre, which will be based in three locations and will aim to help deliver cell and gene therapies to patients through a network of hospital centres.
The £146m is part of that earmarked sum and it will go to five different manufacturing centres.
The recommendations of Bell, which have also called for greater collaboration between the NHS and businesses when it comes to digital health products and "ambitious" long-term research, will now be considered by government.
The 64 billion pounds ($83 billion) a year life sciences industry, which employs 235,000 people, is one of several sectors the government has prioritized, along with ultra-low emission vehicles, nuclear and creative industries.
Sir Robert Lechler, president of the Academy of Medical Sciences, said "Importantly, the strategy highlights the potential of the NHS, which we are not now capitalising on".
Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, said: "The success of this strategy now lies in its vision being backed up by concerted effort and investment across government, the NHS, and the research and private sectors".
