Lasting political commitment is critical for life sciences

According to the UK BioIndustry Association (BIA), the momentum of the UK’s life sciences industry will be lost if there is no lasting political commitment.

In its recent report titled ‘Now More Than Ever: Seizing the opportunity to make the UK a world leader in the life sciences’ the association calls on political parties to turn warm words into practical solutions to strengthen UK life sciences. The findings of the report highlight that despite the efforts of successive governments to support the UK life science sector and encourage uptake of innovation, policies have not been fully implemented or led to lasting change. The report specifically focuses on the necessity of parties to think creatively in order to harness the strengths of the NHS, as a single integrated system, to support UK life sciences.

Recently, the Houses of Parliament have adopted a government amendment to the Health Service Medical Supplies (Cost) Bill. This amendment will require future governments to consult on the ‘economic consequences for the life sciences industry’ and impact on patients when introducing cost-containment measures for new medicines.

The BIA recommends that support for the sector can be shown by political parties in the lead up to the election through a commitment to implement the recommendations of the Accelerated Access Review (AAR). Announced in November 2014, the AAR’s final report was published in October last year and the government has yet to publish a response.

Key recommendations from the report are reforms to assessment and reimbursement of medicines — in addition to a central fund dedicated to accelerating access to the most impactful treatments — support of the sector and improvement in uptake of innovation through NHS England prioritising its responsibilities and a greater influence by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on all aspects of life science policy.

“Over three years of policy work, through three administrations have gone into the development of Accelerated Access policy proposals. 2017 is the time for action,” said Steve Bates, CEO of the BIA. “To give confidence to life science investment into the UK, I ask all political parties contesting the forthcoming general election to commit to ensuring the AAR recommendations are adopted in their health manifestos.”