‘Big Opportunities’ For Scotland’s Life Sciences

The life sciences sector is one that the UK government is placing a great deal of emphasis on. The Scotsman recently pointed to a speech by UK life sciences champion Sir John Bell, in which he identified three areas where the UK has the potential to be a world-leader: genomics, digital health and early diagnosis.

Speaking to the newspaper, partner and life sciences specialist at legal firm CMS Carina Healy said that these areas “play into what we do well in Scotland and present very big opportunities”.

The news provider linked stratified medicine with genomics, one of the sectors where Scotland is forging ahead.

In Scotland, there’s the perfect blend of cutting-edge academic research and innovative companies developing new treatments for use on the NHS.

The Stratified Medicine Scotland Innovation Centre based at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow was cited as one example of where experts across academia, industry and the NHS are coming together to create new treatments that will benefit patients.

Ms Healy explained that decoding the human genome, and being able to do so cost effectively, was just the first stage of innovations in this sector. “With further research we will be able to know how to make best use of this data to deliver more effective health care for individual patients,” she asserted.

However, chief executive of the Scottish Lifesciences Association (SLA) Scott Johnstone warned last month that one of the biggest challenges to the sector’s growth is a lack of regulators.

He explained in an interview with the Scotsman that the number of notified bodies who can carry out the necessary regulatory checks on medical innovations has fallen significantly, both in the UK and across the EU as a whole. This is making it more difficult for businesses to get products through the necessary regulatory hurdles, he stated.

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