Our life sciences plan is transforming Britain into a healthier, wealthier nation
4 min read
Earlier this year, regulators approved the first-ever immunotherapy treatment for people with an aggressive form of stomach cancer, made by AstraZeneca.
Just two weeks ago, the world’s first-ever immunotherapy for type 1 diabetes was approved for use in the NHS. This could give people months or even years before they need treatment, by slowing down the disease before symptoms begin. A 15-year-old boy, Sam, in Birmingham Children’s Hospital, was the first person to receive the drug.
These life-changing innovations are all made possible by a thriving life sciences ecosystem in the UK. However, in recent years we have seen the sector struggle with slowing investment, new treatments tangled up in red tape, and a looming skills gap.
That is why we launched our Life Sciences Sector Plan a year ago. Supported by £2bn of government funding over the Spending Review, to bring in billions in investment, create thousands of new jobs and most importantly, to deliver innovative treatments to patients faster. And the plan is working.
We are making the UK a top destination to invest in life sciences, and businesses are taking notice. Over the past year, we have attracted more than £3bn of investment into the UK's life sciences sector. In 2024, we raised the highest amount of equity finance in Europe and were behind only the US and China globally.
Through the Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund, our strategic grants have helped to secure £700m in public-private investment so far. This investment brings new labs and research facilities in the UK and makes sure they stay here.
Crucially, these investments are turning talent and expertise right across the country into new treatments for illnesses which touch all of our lives.
We are also putting the UK and the NHS in the best position to gain swift access to new medicines.
Through our UK/US pharmaceutical arrangement, we are ensuring we can continue to gain access to the latest pharmaceutical treatments for NHS patients, as well as securing a commitment to zero tariffs on our pharmaceutical exports to the US – the best any country has achieved.
Our changes to the NICE cost-effectiveness threshold – essentially the amount that we will pay for important new innovative medicines – are opening up access to new treatments for NHS patients, which were previously turned down on cost grounds alone.
This has already given NHS patients access to life-changing medicines, including a brain cancer drug for patients as young as 12, a treatment for muscular dystrophy in children, and a last-resort treatment for patients with a rare form of stomach cancer.
We are also getting new treatments to patients faster by cutting red tape to speed up clinical trials. The average set-up time for commercial clinical trials in the UK has been slashed from 169 to 122 days.
A thriving life sciences sector isn’t just good for patients, it drives the UK’s economic growth. Indeed, science and innovation are the building blocks for reindustrialising Britain.
Around 360,000 people in the UK work in life sciences, in every area of the country.
Success in life sciences here means thousands of skilled workers gaining good jobs and powering regional economies.
With our new Life Sciences Sector Jobs Plan, we are working with industry to lay the foundations for an additional 66,000 roles in priority professions in the sector by 2035.
This offers exciting prospects for young people to find careers as lab technicians, chemical scientists or software developers. Apprenticeships, T Levels and V Levels will offer a key path for young people to break into life sciences and help create new ways of detecting and preventing diseases, and treating them.
The UK has the research base, the talent, and, through this government, the right plan to ensure our Life Sciences sector can go from strength to strength.
We are putting science to work to transform the UK into a healthier and wealthier nation.
Lord Vallance is Minister for Science, Innovation, Research and Nuclear
