CEO Update - 4 March 2024
All eyes on Wednesday’s Budget and explainer webinar on Thursday
It is the Budget week at Westminster and all eyes will be on the Chancellor's statement this Wednesday. We've already seen Jeremy Hunt doubled down on the pensions reform agenda in weekend reporting and I'm hopeful we'll see more to support the life science sector this week.
Join our webinar on Thursday as we provide our analysis and reaction, explaining the details behind the headlines. It's clear that the government are frustrated at the pace of the productive finance agenda and I hope the new disclosure plans will enable greater investment in a sector from UK pension savers. I'm also keen to see if there can be movement in making the R&D tax credit system simpler for small and medium-sized enterprises.
South Coast-based Curve raise £40 million Series A
I was delighted to see Curve Therapeutics announce their Series A last week and raise the flag for biotech in Southampton. The company's platform allows functional screening and enrichment of highly diverse, gene-encoded, Microcycle libraries within the cytoplasm of mammalian cells to identify library members that have a desired biological activity against a therapeutic target.
New Rare Disease Action Plan for England published
Last week, the Department for Health and Social Care published the third Rare Disease Action Plan for England to coincide with Rare Disease Day on 29 February. This 2024 Action Plan evaluates progress on the 29 commitments in the 2023 and 2022 Action Plans and commits to seven new actions to continue addressing the priorities set out in the UK Rare Diseases Framework. It is positive that Action 25 will remain open following the joint BIA/ABPI member survey conducted on industry experience of EAMS, ILAP, and IMF schemes. NHS England, MHRA and NICE have committed to analyse the results of the survey in more detail and meet with the BIA and ABPI to discuss the survey before providing a written response, with further progress being reported in the 2025 action plan.
Minister Andrew Stephenson spoke about the new action plan at Genetic Alliance’s annual Rare Disease Day Westminster reception, where we also heard from Liz Twist MP, Genetic Alliance CEO Louise Fish, and Grant Finney, who spoke movingly about the loss of his sister Jess who lived with Klippel Trenaunay Syndrome (KTS). The BIA is committed to continued collaboration on rare diseases, building on the momentum created through Rare Disease Day.
Looking to the new year in China – join our webinar tomorrow
If you're keen to understand the market opportunity and the support available to UK life science companies looking to expand or partner in this exciting market, we have the right webinar for you. Hosted by BIA and chaired by DBT China, you will hear from AstraZeneca and CBBC about opportunities for collaboration and partnering in China. Join us tomorrow at 10 am for what will be an important and time-saving hour for all.
June Raine steps down
The end of an era for the MHRA as Dame June Raine has announced her intention to stand down as chief executive later this year. June has been a strong ally for the BIA, and we have built a very close working relationship since Brexit, particularly during the pandemic. In 2024, we'll see a new era for the MHRA as both a new chair and chief executive will come into position.
IRP up and running
It's good to see that the International Recognition Procedure (IRP) organised by the MHRA is now successfully producing licenses. The first product authorised was a new formulation of a bone cancer drug, and the process took 30 days. Read more
WTO ministerial conference
There were no shock headlines as the WTO ministerial conference closed this weekend in Abu Dhabi. This is just one of the international forums where countries are discussing how best to make the globe resilient to future pandemics. Thanks to hard work in the months before the event, it seems that some of the worst potential outcomes have been avoided. Focus now shifts to the World Health Organization and the forthcoming World Health Assembly where the pandemic record is the hot topic for discussion.
Celebrating International Women's Day
We are looking forward to the Women in Biotech event next week on 12 March. In this special extended Women in Biotech, we'll be celebrating International Women's Day with a full day of thought-leading panels and discussions, round tables on key topics, inspirational talks as well as exciting keynote speakers, addressing the two IWD themes of #InvestInWomen and #InspireInclusion - as well as heaps of networking opportunities.
Steve Bates OBE
CEO, BioIndustry Association
