Podcast Summary
UK's life sciences sector: A major contributor to economic growth, health outcomes, and job creation: The UK's life sciences sector has the potential to add £68 billion to GDP and create 85,000 jobs over the next 30 years, while reducing disease burden by 40% through focus on vital areas like cancer, obesity, and immunology.
The UK's life sciences sector holds immense potential to boost economic growth, create jobs, and improve health outcomes. With a current contribution of £43.3 billion to the UK economy and 646,000 jobs supported in 2021, this sector could add an additional £68 billion to GDP and create 85,000 more jobs over the next 30 years. Moreover, it can significantly reduce the disease burden across the UK by 40%. The UK, with its world-class capabilities and history of medical innovation, has the unique asset of the NHS and must capitalize on this to drive growth in all parts of the country. The PwC Life Sciences Future 50 report highlights this potential, showcasing 50 innovative companies in the sector that could contribute significantly to the UK's economic growth. By focusing on vital disease areas such as cancer, obesity, and immunology and making the necessary investments, the UK can lead the global race in life sciences and make society physically and financially healthier.
Investment needed to scale up UK's life sciences sector: The UK's life sciences sector requires substantial investment to bring new products to market and continue making an impact on human health, attracting top talent globally.
The UK's life sciences sector is a significant strategic area for the country, with a high quality of research and innovation. The sector is a major contributor to future growth and delivers life-changing health outcomes. However, to continue making an impact, the sector needs substantial investment, estimated to be around £10-£15 billion over the next few years, to scale up companies and bring new products to market. This investment is crucial for society as it has the potential to change the face of human health and attract top talent from around the world. Despite the challenges, there is cross-party agreement on the need for productive finance in the industry, making life sciences a prime candidate for investment.
Reviving UK's Investment Landscape for Business Growth: To stimulate UK business growth, we need to reverse the trend of decreased investment in equities, increase R&D investment in life sciences, and make the UK more attractive for investment.
Scaling a company in the UK requires both an abundant workforce and sufficient capital. While the UK has a talented workforce due to the presence of large corporations, attracting and retaining talent depends on the availability of financial resources. The UK's pension fund industry, which has seen a significant decrease in investment in equities over the past two decades, has contributed to a lack of investment in the country. This has resulted in a diminished investor base and analyst pool for life sciences, creating a vicious circle. To address this issue, there is a need to reverse this trend and invest more in the UK across various sectors, including private companies and pension funds. Restoring the UK's life sciences R&D share to its 2012 level could result in an additional £10 billion worth of R&D investment annually. By making the UK more attractive for investment and improving the ease of growth for spinouts, we can stimulate the economy and create a more favorable environment for businesses to thrive.
The Economic Impact of Poor Health in the UK: Poor health costs the UK economy billions in lost productivity, increased healthcare expenses, and health inequality. Investing in life sciences can lead to improved public health and significant economic benefits.
Poor health in the UK has a significant impact on both individuals and the economy. Two specific areas of concern are the missing million from the workforce due to ill health or disability, and the economic burden of diseases like dementia. The cost of not addressing these issues includes lost productivity, increased healthcare expenses, and health inequality. On the positive side, investing in life sciences can lead to improved public health and significant economic benefits. For instance, a study found that access to innovative medicines could result in £18 billion worth of productivity gains in the UK alone. Overall, prioritizing health and well-being is essential for both social and economic reasons.
UK's strong foundation in innovative areas like cell therapy and genomics: The UK's history of scientific advancements, vast NHS data resources, and translation medicine expertise make it a global leader in medical innovation.
The UK has a strong foundation in innovative areas such as cell therapy and genomics, with a history of leading scientific advancements and translating research into medical practice. The NHS provides a significant advantage with its vast data resources, allowing for potential preventative measures and early identification of diseases. The UK should be bold in investing in these areas and trusting in its scientific capabilities to continue leading the way in medical innovation. Additionally, the UK's history of translation medicine and the NHS's large data pool give it a unique advantage in the field of scientific research and development.
Utilizing data and innovation in UK healthcare: The UK's healthcare sector is making strides in using data and innovation to identify population-disease-therapy correlations, implement new technologies quickly, and collaborate globally for economic growth and addressing global health crises.
While there is room for improvement in utilizing data and innovation in healthcare in the UK, the current capabilities have significant benefits, particularly in identifying correlations between populations, diseases, and therapies. The UK's ability to quickly implement new technologies, as seen in the COVID-19 response, is essential for economic growth and job creation. Furthermore, the UK's position in the global life sciences industry offers opportunities for collaboration, economic growth, and addressing global health crises like climate change. However, the UK has fallen behind in some global rankings, including commercial clinical trials. To reverse this trend, there is a need for continued collaboration and foreign direct investment, leveraging the UK's strong academic institutions and advanced research capabilities.
UK's declining commercial trials impact innovation and economy: To make the UK an attractive destination for innovation, we need to focus on collaboration, addressing challenges, and optimally utilizing our strengths, including the NHS and regulatory expertise.
The decline in commercial trials in the UK has significant consequences for the understanding, adoption, and funding of innovative medicines. This issue impacts access to innovation and the UK economy. To improve the situation, greater collaboration between the NHS, healthcare professionals, and life sciences industries is needed. The UK's strengths, such as the NHS and regulatory expertise, can also be challenges. For instance, post-Brexit, the loss of expertise from the NHRA due to the EMA relocating to Amsterdam has weakened our regulatory position. To address this, investing more in regulatory bodies and attracting top talent is crucial. In summary, to make the UK an attractive destination for innovation, we need to focus on collaboration, addressing challenges, and optimally utilizing our strengths.
Creating a regulatory innovation office for future-proof regulation: The UK government plans to establish an office to streamline regulations, hold regulators accountable, and enable new market products, ensuring high standards and preventing regulatory barriers.
The UK government aims to create a regulatory innovation office to reduce regulatory backlogs, hold regulators accountable, and provide strategic guidance for the future of regulation in life sciences. This office will help ensure that regulation does not act as a barrier but instead enables new market products and high standards. The US currently dominates the global life sciences market, making it an attractive destination for funding. European countries like Switzerland are also investing in their biosciences sectors. UK life sciences companies can play a critical role in preventative medicine through advances in technology, genomics, bioengineering, and understanding individual human bodies to prevent future threats. However, the NHS is currently geared more towards treatment than prevention, and the government is working on strategies to change this and make the NHS more preventative and fit for the future.
Collaboration between public and private sectors in life sciences: Collaboration between public and private sectors in life sciences can lead to access to resources, expertise, and innovation, but challenges like pricing and incentives need to be addressed.
Importance of collaboration between the public and private sectors in addressing complex challenges in the life sciences industry. Chiamwara Kwakye, Dan Mahoney, and Stephen Ahern highlighted the potential benefits of such partnerships, including access to resources, expertise, and innovation. However, they also acknowledged the challenges, such as pricing and incentives, that need to be addressed to make these collaborations more effective. The PwC Life Sciences Future 50 report showcases UK companies that are leading the way in scientific research and human healthcare through world-class science and innovation. To learn more, visit pwc.co.uk or listen to more Spotlight policy reporting at newstatesman.com/forward/spotlight. I'm Emma Hazlett, and our producer is Katherine Hughes. Thank you for tuning in.
