Why North American Investment in the UK’s Life Sciences Sector Matters

Earlier today, a group of leading life sciences companies, many of whom are based in the US, met a senior group of UK Ministers including the Chancellor, Trade Secretary, Business Secretary and Health and Social Care Secretary. 

Today’s roundtable was the second in a series of events with investors in key sectors of the UK economy. As with the tech investment roundtable on June 13th, it was a chance to discuss the key issues facing their businesses, and for the UK Government to set out the main strands of our policy thinking and the wider Invest in GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland campaign.

Ensuring that the UK has a robust and thriving life sciences sector is a priority for the Government. The sector has a yearly turnover of over $90 billion, and exports well over $35 billion globally each year. Sustaining a stream of high quality foreign direct investment is crucial to building on UK strengths in the changing landscape ahead. To that end, the Government has been meeting regularly with key industry figures, from the talks that laid the groundwork for the Life Sciences Industrial Strategy last year, the subsequent Life Sciences Sector Deal, a high level meeting with the Prime Minister in Davos in January and now today’s meeting.

Following the launch of the wider Industrial Strategy in November 2017, the Government in partnership with industry published the Life Sciences Sector Deal in December. You can read more about both in this letter from Sir John Bell, the UK’s Life Sciences Sector Champion.

The bottom line is that we are determined to maintain the UK’s position as one of the best economies in the world for Life Sciences. We are No. 1 in Europe for health and life sciences inward investment, ranking just behind San Francisco and Boston globally for the amount of life science finance raised. And no place in the world can replicate our data-driven biomedical ecosystem, anchored by the world’s largest integrated health service, the NHS, which celebrated its 70th anniversary this month. 

No other country has laid out such a far-reaching strategy aimed at tackling the four Grand Challenges of our time, Growing the Artificial Intelligence and Data Driven Economy, Clean Growth, Future of Mobility, and our Ageing Society. The UK also plays a major role in global public health agendas, taking a lead in tackling the policy and practical challenges in areas such as dementia, neglected and tropical disease; and the ethical use of health data. In fact, our Chief Medical Officer, Dame Sally Davies is convening global leaders today at the UN in New York to share best practice on how we combat the global threat of antimicrobial resistance.

The Prime Minister recently announced a new mission to use data and AI to transform the diagnosis of chronic diseases. This program is aimed at much earlier diagnosis of four major cancers, and estimated to benefit at least 50,000 people over 15 years. It is the most ambitious program of its kind to date.

The UK already leads the field of genomics applied to healthcare. The 100,000 Genomes Project is expediting genomic medicine for better care throughout the NHS and globally. The UK BioBank, offering key data on 500,000 participants, has attracted diagnostic and pharma companies from all over the world. Now we are aiming to complete whole-genome sequencing on the entire UK BioBank cohort, and that will open up a whole new range of possibilities in the promising field of precision medicine.

All of this and more is the result of a unique ecosystem for research, innovation and exploitation of new medicines and treatments. The strategic partnership between government, business and academia at the heart of the Industrial Strategy and Life Sciences Sector Deal is crucial to future success. As is our relationship with the key life sciences firms across North America. 

We know there are questions we need to answer about future policy priorities and that was a key part of the discussions earlier today with our Ministers. We also know that there are questions about our future relationship with the EU. The White Paper we published last week set out an ambition for a comprehensive economic partnership between us that will allow overseas investors to continue to see the UK as a location of choice for future research and drug development, and as a base for EU as well as global activities.

In short, the UK is open for business. We are determined to sustain our position as one of the world’s most attractive economies for life sciences companies, large and small, building on the platform created by the 5,600 businesses who are already based there. If you have ambitions in this area we want to hear from you. Please contact our Department for International Trade network in posts across North America, who can provide specific opportunities tailored to your needs.