Life Sciences Could Have ‘Biggest Impact On UK Economy’ By 2025m Says Research
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The success of the life sciences industry straddles sectors, from lab equipment production to marketing, and it seems that the growth in the sector will not see a slow down in the near future. According to a new study by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), life sciences will make up a small group of industries that will add an extra £14 billion to the UK’s economy each year by 2025.
By this time, the life sciences sector could create an additional 56,00 jobs in the UK, underlining the importance of it to the country’s economy. However, the ABPI want the figures to serve as a prompt for the UK government to up its game in the support of life sciences investment, especially concerning the sector’s path through Brexit, according to EPM magazine.
The two main concerns that the ABPI trade body have are surrounding research and development, and the UK’s skills gap. Chief executive of the ABPI, Mike Thompson, said: “These figures give an insight into the exciting potential for growth in our already world-leading sector. This could impact positively on every region of the UK. To achieve this we must make sure that the UK remains the go-to place for global scientific R&D and attracts and develops the best talent as the UK leaves the EU,” he continues.
For the innovation-based industries highlighted in the report, others including aerospace and clean energy, to be successful, a focus on creating a strong environment for R&D is important and echoed by the UK government’s target of 2.4 per cent of gross domestic product by the year 2027. This, however, is playing catch-up to other forward economies post-Britain’s exit from the EU.
As part of the Life Sciences Deal, a particular boost has been given to ‘late-phase’ commercial research, according to Erik Nordkamp, outgoing president of the ABPI, talking to Pharmaphorum, with one part of the deal focusing on the creation of five new centres dedicated to late phase research in 2019 to 2020. He also says that the main issues that need to be hammered out to secure the life sciences sector post-Brexit are ensuring that access to funding and collaboration on scientific projects remains ‘predictable’
To ensure that the UK sector stays ahead of the competition, keeping talent is also something the ABPI is keen to press the government on – especially in tackling the growing skills gap in the industry. This is about having schemes in place for attracting and retaining talent, whether from this country or from others, especially post-Brexit, and nurturing the next pool of talent by encouraging roles in STEM fields and putting more information in front of young people about working in the life sciences.
Knowing how these schemes will work and putting them in place is something that will require a deal on Brexit, however. But with chaos abound, with the industry working to ensure that in whatever outcome Brexit comes to that people can still get access to medicines that they need, the future still looks very bright for the life science sales sector.