UK life sciences opportunities highlighted at PING 2021

Government policies, cultivating scientific collaboration and the role of health data in drug discovery were some of the key themes at this year’s 12th Pharmaceutical Industry Network Group (PING) Conference.

The conference is organised by VWV law firm's specialist Pharmaceuticals and Life Sciences sector and is held virtually in conjunction with IQVIA and supported by Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership.

One of the biggest themes of the event this year was how the UK government’s ‘Life Sciences Vision’ can act as a key driver for growth throughout the industry going forward.

Speaking at the event, the Office for Life Sciences head of Strategy, Alex Mclaughlin, said: “The Life Sciences Vision sets out how through working in partnership, Government, NHS, the Sector and academia can create real value for industry and better treatments and technologies for patients. It's an exciting time for life sciences, and the UK is uniquely placed to innovate and lead the way. The Government is determined to work with partners from right across the sector to realise the ambitions of the Vision."

Another point raised during the conference was how the NHS can be a driver for innovation and what can help build upon its Long Term Plan through a focus on population health and working with Integrated Care Systems.

Areas such as the Innovative Medicines Fund and the repurposing of medicines, as seen with the use of the steroid dexamethasone to treat Covid-19 patients during the pandemic, shows what opportunities there are.

Due to Brexit, the government is now having to focus on developing and modifying international agreements. As such, deals with Indo-Pacific life sciences relations including Singapore, Vietnam, Canada and Mexico are being prioritised, while new post-Brexit agreements with Australia and New Zealand are now in place.

Speaking about these developments at the event, Andrew Howard, deputy director for Trade, Regulation and Analysis at The Office for Life Sciences, talked about the UK's priorities in trade deals, as well as the challenges and opportunities for Britain.

He said: "The last few years have been a time of great change, but there are many opportunities for Global Britain in life sciences. The UK has a pioneering regulator, leading academia, a single healthcare system and a strong biopharma sector, as well as a coherent vision for the sector that supports exciting new specialist areas. Having built on existing global relationships, we're now fully focused on nurturing new ones."

As seen throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, collaborations have become key to success and this was something that was highlighted during PING.

CEO of the Institute for Collaborative Working, Claire Ward, said: “The value of structured collaborative working is having a plan that can support organisations to build sustainable relationships. During Covid-19, the pharmaceutical sector has shown the value of working together; the task now is to embed attitudes and behaviours that can sustain long term collaborative relationships across all parts of the industry."

GlaxoSmithKline's director Academic Liaison, Malcolm Skingle CBE, added: "I've seen for years that collaborations are the way to go for pharma - whether with others in pharma or with academia. The pandemic has shown the importance of collaborations. The Vaccine Taskforce achieved their incredible feats through collaborating. Working together to get the best skills together has never been more important." 

Technologies discussed during the event included genomics and how real-world health data can be used to improve health outcomes through a more targeted approach.

Professor Joanne Hackett, head of Genomic and Precision Medicine at IQVIA, highlighted that "the future for data is a game changer - both genomic and healthcare data. However, the key will be making sure the data is well curated in order to achieve the potential."

One point raised during the conference was how life sciences needs to get smarter by looking to work with and check cohorts in other countries globally.

Health Data Research UK's CEO, Caroline Cake, explained how "health data research has enabled some of the most important discoveries about Covid-19 and been a key component of the UK’s understanding of and response to the pandemic. There is now a fantastic opportunity to build on this momentum and collaboration in the sector to accelerate our work, making large scale datasets safely available for research, to enable discoveries across the spectrum of health conditions, from cancer to rare diseases."

In terms of UK regulation, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is aiming to approve medicines in a quicker way than usual, without compromising or assessing safety and efficacy.

Dr Kirsty Wydenbach, expert medical assessor at the MHRA, said: "The MHRA ambition is about putting patients first, becoming a truly world-leading, enabling regulator and protecting public health through excellence in regulation and science. Support for innovation is a key part of that ambition. We want to hear from researchers and developers early so we can help them stay on track, and so we can learn and become an even more industry-friendly regulator."

Summing up PING 2021, IQVIA's vice president, Strategic Planning Northern Europe, Angela McFarlane, said: "What a conference. It's left us in no doubt that our next mission as a life science community is to collaborate on the seven ‘Healthcare Missions’ in the Government Life Sciences Vision, combining the ‘best of British’ - our unique health data, our world-leading genomics, transformative real-world research and innovation in research. If we embrace a mission-led culture in medicines discovery and access, with collaboration being the new norm the UK could become the life sciences."