CEO update - 16 September 2024
Launch of London Life Sciences Week
With a little over eight weeks to go to London Life Sciences Week (LLSW), we are launching a new website - lifesciencesweek.london - and lifting the lid on all that is happening to make the UK the place to be for life sciences this November. Friendlier and more focused than the JP Morgan Health Care Conference in San Francisco (as well as far more cost-effective), LLSW is an annual gathering that unites the global biotech community for a week of networking and dealmaking.
Hosted by MedCity and BIA, the week is centred around the Jefferies European Healthcare Conference, which attracts over 800 international senior decision-makers from life science companies and investor firms.
Steve Bates OBE
CEO, BIA
This year LLSW will kick off with a ‘Welcome to London’ reception on the evening of Sunday 17 November. Visit lifesciencesweek.london, which features the vast series of satellite events that have sprung up to promote and celebrate life sciences across London that week and let us know if you would like to add your own event to the buzz.
NHS at the heart of the UK political debate this autumn
'We’re also going to throw the full weight of the British Government behind our world-leading life sciences' were the words of the Prime Minister giving his keynote speech at the King’s Fund last week in response to the report by Ara Darzi of what needs to be done for the NHS. This was heartening to hear, and we know there is political support for our sector from the very top. The task now is to ensure that this is echoed in all government policies.
£12 million funding awarded to advance innovative cancer projects
The Minister of Science, Patrick Vallance, clearly got the memo as he announced that 23 companies will benefit from a share of £12 million from the Innovate UK Cancer Therapeutics programme. He said: "With Government backing for projects at every stage, the UK’s life sciences sector will continue to be at the forefront of research that is producing ground-breaking therapies that could be transformative for the thousands of people struggling with the disease up and down the country."
It is great to see many BIA members participating in this scheme and that feasibility studies are helping nurture the UK’s very youngest companies to start their journey.
Big data focus in NHS reform
It was also good to see the Prime Minister say: “The NHS is uniquely placed for the opportunities of big data and predictive and preventative medicine. It’s just not taking advantage of the opportunities in front of it. And that’s what needs to change.”
And it's great that this theme was picked up by much of the reporting – an agenda we continue to work on with our techbio work. (Join us on 16 October at TechBio UK)
But will it be continued in the Budget by HM Treasury as part of the growth mission?
Whether the Treasury are as full-voiced in support of the sector, we will find out in the Budget at the end of October. It was good to see the continued commitment of the Pensions & Private Capital Expert Panel to find practical ways to enable UK pension funds to back Britain’s high-growth sectors at the BVCA conference last week. The Labour government has identified life sciences as a priority industry for its growth mission but we know data from the British Business Bank shows that the UK under-invests in this key growth opportunity more than any other sector when comparing our venture capital ecosystem to the US. As the BIA and now the Expert Panel have highlighted, we can learn from international examples of best practice, like France’s Tibi scheme, to see how the UK can channel our national wealth into future economic growth that benefits all.
My view is that, given the specific capital needs and business model in life sciences, it is likely that we will need a sector-specific vehicle to link our expert life science investors, high-growth companies and pension fund asset allocators. This autumn we are convening leading players to develop this at pace and look forward to working with the financing ecosystem and the UK government to bring it to fruition.
And I’m not sure NHS England’s consultation on indication-based pricing, which closes next Tuesday, was written with the PM’s words front and centre.
So do make sure you get your submission in on time. If you’ve not been close to this, it is a technical consultation on part of the NHS commercial framework and the after commitments made in the VPAG, NHS England is consulting indication-specific pricing arrangements and the circumstances in which they will be considered, a reflection of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) prioritisation statement on combination therapies, and embedding the provisions and principles supporting patient access schemes into the framework.
I know this is an issue that many companies have views on and I am keen to see a workable solution that encourages companies to launch medicines in the UK come about as a result of this. I’ve not been encouraged that the early academic papers that NHS England have commissioned encompass the real opportunity here, nor seize the impact for patients that a positive indication-based pricing and combination therapy approach could have in oncology. The UK is keen to attract the latest clinical trials here – we also need to ensure those products that make it through have rapid uptake within the NHS.
UK phage strength – a hidden AMR opportunity
I was interested to read this Innovate UK report on the state of phage work in the UK. It states that Innovate UK has funded approximately 23 phage-related projects since 2011, totalling £7.4 million of investment. But they identify a number of issues holding back development – one is that “there is little constructive, responsible communication to wider communities about the potential benefits of phage-based technologies.”
The real challenge identified is :
There is a lack of production/manufacturing facilities in the UK that have the capacity and technical capability to manufacture phage products to meet Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) guidelines, but also for non-GMP products. This severely hinders the progression of translational work being carried out to develop PBTs across all sectors as phage products cannot be produced in large enough quantities to high enough standards to conduct the studies and gather data required to inform licensing and use. This is not a UK-only issue as researchers and developers in Europe also have limited access to phage manufacturing facilities.
This shows the vital importance of medicine manufacturing and the need to strategically support the right type of infrastructure to scale and grow industrial capability – I hope this remains a focus for government thinking – as an area where we can grow our economy and protect global health at the same time.
TechBio Boost event
Last Wednesday the BIA and KQ Labs hosted our inaugural event of the TechBio Boost programme. Bringing together an array of biotech and techbio founders, this day served not just as an unparalleled networking opportunity but also provided key insights on how to negotiate with investors, the mistakes founders often make and how to avoid them and the current landscape of the Biotech ecosystem.
Featuring testimony from successful biotech founders, roundtable discussions on negotiation strategy and a commentary from an expert panel, this event provided substantive knowledge in addition to tangible direction to all founders in attendance.
Congratulations to Jane Osbourn
I’m delighted that former BIA Chair Jane Osbourn has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Alchemab. Ever the role model, as a result of the depth and breadth of her experience, the company is well set for the next exciting stage of development, and I look forward to sharing her success with members in Cambridge today.
Party conference season
Party conference season is just around the corner. We will be hosting three events, two at the Labour Party conference focusing on how UK biotech can drive climate solutions with global impact and the innovative, high-growth Britain which can be unleashed through the unlocking of pensions (held 23 September at 5-6.30 pm and 24 September at 5-6.30 pm respectively) and one at the Conservative Party conference (30 September 5:30-7 pm ) on the latter topic. More in the coming weeks.
