Pharma companies to give evidence on life sciences strategy to Lords
The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee will hear evidence from pharmaceutical companies, including AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), this week in its continued inquiry into the life sciences and industrial strategy.
In a statement released by the House of Lords press office, an itinerary was released for the evidence sessions during which the Lords will look at what contribution pharma companies can make to the implementation of the strategy and the attractiveness of the UK as a place for continued life sciences investment.
The itinerary is as follows:
The witnesses will begin giving evidence at 10.10 am and include:
- Dave Allen, senior vice president Respiratory Disease R&D, GSK
- Menelas Pangalos, executive vice-president, Innovative Medicines and Early Development (IMED) Biotech Unit, AstraZeneca
In the second evidence session, the Committee will hear from Randox Laboratories, Inhealthcare and Matoke Holdings three UK based life science SMEs. They will be questioned on the challenges smaller companies face in areas such as funding and innovation.
At 11.00 am the Committee will hear from:
- Bryn Sage, CEO, Inhealthcare
- Mark Campbell CBE, senior manager, Randox Laboratories
- Ian Staples, chief executive, Matoke Holdings
In the final evidence session, representatives from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) will be questioned on the possible impact of different regulations between the UK and the EU could have after Brexit and whether regulators should do more to aid the uptake of innovative products by the NHS.
At 11.50 am the Committee will hear from:
- Dr Ian Hudson, chief executive, MHRA
- Sir Andrew Dillon, chief executive, NICE
Questions the witnesses are likely to be asked include:
- What their experience of getting innovations in treatments and devices taken up by the NHS has been.
- What their experience of accessing different sources of funding to grow each company has been.
- What is their companies’ overall impression of the Life Sciences Industrial Strategy and the extent to which it was involved in its preparation.
- Whether there are any aspects of regulation that are proving a block to the taking of science to innovation and commercialisation.
The evidence session will begin at 10.10 am on Tuesday 17 October in Committee Room 4a of the House of Lords.
These sessions are open to the public and can be viewed live on the internet at www.parliamentlive.tv