Chris Whitehouse, a political consultant and expert on medical technology policy and regulation at Whitehouse Communications, an advisor to MedTech suppliers, chair of the Urology Trade Association, and governor of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre, reports on the launch of the government’s long-awaited Life Science Sector Plan.
The government has launched its long-awaited new Life Sciences Sector Plan as part of the government’s flagship Industrial Strategy, setting out its ten-year plan to harness British science and innovation to “deliver long-term economic growth and a stronger, prevention-focused NHS”.
The UK, argues the Government, is already a global leader in life sciences, with the sector worth around £100 billion to the economy, and employing 300,000 people. The new Plan, developed alongside the government’s 10 Year Health Plan, is intended to build on those foundations and sets out how it will “turn cutting-edge research into real-world results: new treatments, faster diagnoses, and more lives saved”.
Life sciences’ critical importance to both driving economic growth and improving health – core elements of the Labour Government’s Plan for Change – underpin the government’s action to date to support the sector.
The plan sets out a comprehensive roadmap built around three “core pillars”:
- Enabling World-Class R&D – strengthening the UK’s leadership in science and discovery
- Making the UK an outstanding place to start, scale and invest – growing homegrown companies and attracting global capital
- Driving Health Innovation and NHS Reform – delivering better outcomes for patients and a more modern, preventative healthcare system
The Life Sciences Sector Plan will be supported over the lifetime of the Spending Review by government funding of over £2 billion, alongside funding from UKRI (UK Research & Innovation) and NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research). It identifies six key actions:
1. Unlocking NHS data to find new cures: up to £600 million investment to build the world’s most advanced health data system – helping scientists develop better treatments faster.
2. Speeding up clinical trials: cutting red tape so patients can join trials sooner – and get access to life-changing medicines quicker.
3. Backing British manufacturing: up to £520 million to invest in life sciences manufacturing projects – creating high-skilled jobs and making more treatments and medical devices here at home.
4. Getting new treatments to patients faster: making regulation simpler and faster by boosting departmental support for the MHRA with additional investment – so doctors can use safe, effective innovations without delay.
5. Helping doctors use cutting-edge tech: a new NHS ‘passport’ to roll out proven tools faster – like AI cancer scanners or wearable devices that detect disease early.
6. Backing “brilliant” UK firms to grow: helping fast-growing companies raise investment, scale up, and stay in the UK – with at least one major industry partnership secured every year.
The Plan sets out a detailed roadmap from now to 2030, specifying what steps will be taken, and by which part of government and its arms-length bodies, to deliver on its three “core pillars”; and there will be much with which it is necessary to engage for the MedTech sector over the coming months and years. Indeed, we can expect imminently the publication by the MHRA of a “Medical Devices Statement of Policy Intent on Early Access and Innovation”.
The Author used AI in preparing this article, comments upon or questions about which can be addressed to chris.whitehouse@whitehousecomms.com.
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