Passing the baton on as President of the ABPI and the road ahead

Leading the ABPI at such a critical time has been a huge honour. We have experienced seismic events over the past two years, including a pandemic that has forced us to reimagine how we live and work, while also shining a light on the great impact of the Life Sciences sector.

For me, to have been elected by my peers to lead the ABPI and chair the Board was a privilege. I hope it has helped to show that you don’t need to fit traditional stereotypes to be a leader in our industry. But this is just one of the reasons it has meant so much to lead the ABPI.

Working for a more diverse and inclusive industry

Despite my parents both working in the NHS, and healthcare being a big part of my life, I never dreamt I would have a role like this. Twenty years ago, I didn’t see many people that looked like me, or had a name like mine, in senior roles.

Over the past two years, particularly in light of the Black Lives Matter movement, inequalities of opportunities and health outcomes within society have rightfully come to the fore. My time at the ABPI has led me to reflect on my past experiences, where frankly and thankfully, I had more opportunities that most people from minority ethnic groups. It has made me ask the question - how we can do more to tackle all forms of inequality?

Our industry has a huge role to play in addressing some of these inequalities. We can work to do that by mirroring society – in our workforce composition, in the accessibility and recruitment to clinical trials and so much more. To do so, we need to build trust with communities and demonstrate the positive impact we can make.

While we can look back now and be proud of what we have achieved over the past twenty years, we must push for more progress.

Collaborating for success

When I started as ABPI President, I said I wanted our industry to step out of the shadows and tell our story better. Today, that story is even more compelling and we are now in a very different place.

The UK has left the European Union and is now starting to shape a new global agenda, with Life Sciences at the centre of the Government’s new Plan for Growth.

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the real value of the pharmaceutical sector. With a focus on shared goals, we have changed how we worked; partnered to share data, resources and manufacturing capacity; and committed to making treatments and vaccines available to the people who need them, wherever they are.

Additionally, we are working with NICE, the MHRA and the NHS to develop a more integrated system for bringing innovative medicines and technologies to clinicians and patients.

Those within industry already know that the work we do is a force for good. But all of these experiences are helping others to really see this. We have stepped out of the shadows.

Putting patient first in a post-COVID era

As we start to come out of the initial challenges of the pandemic, the top priority has to be getting NHS services up and running for patients and addressing the backlog that has built up.

This goes beyond recovery and towards creating an NHS that is resilient and sustainable in the longer term. To achieve this, we need to work more closely as one ecosystem; shifting away from transactional relationships towards treating each other as allies with the shared ambition of innovating for the benefit of patients.

As the NHS and economy rebuilds, the Life Sciences sector stands ready to play its part. The huge success of the vaccine roll out has shown us that we need to be just as innovative in how we bring medicines to patients, as the medicines themselves.

 Passing on the baton

As I sign off as President of the ABPI, it fills me with great pride to announce the launch of the new ABPI Equality and Diversity strategy, which will focus on creating an “Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Baseline” for the pharmaceutical industry in the UK; refreshing ABPI policies to provide more equal opportunities; and thirdly, working with partners such as NHS Confederation and the MHRA to deliver a policy programme that directly addresses UK health inequalities.

I am delighted that Ben Osborn, as our new ABPI President, will be taking this strategy forward.