Britain ‘must be bold and ambitious’ in its bid to become world leader in life sciences
BRITAIN SHOULD embrace a bold and ambitious “moonshot” approach to life sciences research in its bid to become a world leader in the sector after Brexit.
Professor Sir John Bell, who led a cross-sector Government review of the long-term future of the £64bn industry, said the UK is “uniquely placed” to take advantage of sector growth because of the NHS.
His comments coincide with the announcement of a new £146m Government investment in cutting-edge healthcare. The money, to be spread over four years, will cover projects supporting advanced therapies, advanced medicines and vaccines development and manufacturing.
Setting out his findings, Sir John said collaboration between industry and the NHS would allow the UK to capitalise on its strong science base, including academic research, to establish a global lead.
He also told an audience at the University of Birmingham’s Institute of Translational Medicine on Wednesday that the review was not suggesting privatisation of the NHS by “disguise”.
The report was welcomed by the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who called it an “excellent strategy” which the Government would “consider carefully”.
As part of the new life sciences strategy, he also announced £14m of funding support for 11 medical technology research centres to bring new technologies to patients by encouraging collaboration between industry and the NHS.
Sir John said the UK was “strong across all the components of the sector”, in business, and “miles ahead” in terms of numbers of leading academic hospitals and research universities.
Highlighting areas for improvement, he said the country had “lost the plot” in manufacturing in life sciences, and had allowed some companies to move overseas.
He also said Britain needed to improve in how it grows small companies with “lots of great ideas” into profitable ones that can boost their value, commercialise and sell the innovative products they develop.
Setting out the scope of the challenge for industry and the NHS, he added: “Global competition in this arena is fierce and if we’re going to win we have to be really, really good.”