What We Know About The UK’s Life Sciences Plan So Far
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News
The recent publication of the government’s industrial strategy may have left some in the life sciences sector seeking to fill in the gaps. The reason for this was that while it was made clear that the sector is seen as playing a major role in generating economic growth, certain aspects of the plan have yet to be decided.
For those involved in life science telemarketing, it can be helpful to understand what the latest state of play is, what has been confirmed, but also what is yet to be decided.
The area of present uncertainty lies in a dispute over drug pricing, the Financial Times reported, which has delayed the publication of the plan. According to the Times, one company, AstraZeneca, has become so frustrated with a lack of resolution that it is considering transferring its stock market listing from London to New York.
Whether this threat acts as a catalyst to help end the impasse remains to be seen, but what should be noted is that while this does hold back a full agreement for now and means some details of the overall strategy have not been fleshed out, the broader industrial strategy published in late June does provide a lot of detail about what is envisaged.
Ambitions To Be A World Leader
Writing about the plans, leader of life sciences at law firm Gowling WLG, Patrick Duxbury, noted that not only is life sciences among eight key industries identified by the government as being central to future economic growth, but ministers have ambitions for it to become one of the world’s top three largest life science countries, including Europe’s leader by 2030.
Mr Duxbury listed the various ways in which this is envisaged. Firstly, notwithstanding these ambitions to outcompete other nations, there is a plan for collaboration with them. This would involve partnerships with other top nations in life sciences like Japan, Germany and France as a means of attracting investment and consolidating high-quality research.
A second key factor is increased access to finance, with the original document noting the comparative difficulty in attracting funding in comparison with countries like the US. Part of the solution will be to adjust the mandate of the National Wealth Fund to provide an extra source of finance.
Regional Plans In Progress
The third element is a focus on regional growth. In time, this will include specific plans for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland agreed with the devolved administrations. However, it also involves establishing different clusters across England, although there is a particular focus on the Oxford-Cambridge corridor.
As might be expected, technological advances are an important element, while the promise of a sector-specific plan is in common with the other seven leading areas of economic growth identified in the industrial strategy.
However, while five of these have been published already, Mr Duxbury noted that the life sciences sector has not yet reached this point, although he did not mention the reported issues holding up the plan. What he did note is that the plan is intended to fit with the ten-year health plan, so that life science applications and healthcare can be coordinated.
Reasons For Optimism
Overall, Mr Duxbury stated, the development of a plan is good news. He wrote: “While more details will be published on the Life Sciences Sector Plan, the industrial strategy brings positive news of the support being invested into the industry and its important role in driving innovation and growth.”
In addition, he noted, the recent spending review has already provided some positive news with more money pledged by the government for investment in research and development.
What this shows is that there is some good news at least; the life sciences sector in the UK can look forward to receiving more funding and substantial structural support, while also benefiting from longer-term strategic planning.
This should all be entirely dependent on an agreement on drug pricing, although removing that element from the final plan may be a compromise issue.
It may be that after a series of policy climbdowns, the government feels compelled to stick to its guns for a change lest it add to a growing reputation for U-turns. However, it may be that it reaches such an agreement under pressure from the likes of AstraZeneca, especially if other large companies make similar threats to move operations.
This means the full picture is yet to emerge for the life sciences sector plans and, of course, there is a possibility this could all change again a few years hence if there is a change of government. But there is enough detail at this point to provide marketers with plenty of information to help plan future marketing campaigns.