CEO Update: Monday 18 June

Last week we saw some great news for our sector. The £2.5 billion British Patient Capital fund, launched by the British Business Bank, will provide long-term funding to support the growth of innovative UK bioscience companies and other sectors and will help to build the next generation of UK life science companies to scale to global leadership. BIA has been working hard with the government to increase long-term capital to the life sciences sector and we’re delighted that our calls for ambitious public investment have been heeded.

Also launched last week, the Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre (MMIC) will offer pharma companies, from start-ups through to multinational organisations, a unique service to develop and adopt novel manufacturing techniques to adapt into their own manufacturing processes. The centre aims to help the UK capture bigger slice of the global £98 billion small molecule pharma market. The £56 million investment comes from a collaboration between Scottish Enterprise, the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, GSK and AstraZeneca.

We also saw good news on NHS doctors and nurses being removed from the Tier 2 visa caps. This means that the NHS will be able to recruit the vital staff needed to provide care for patients and that there will be around 8,000 more places for other roles, including in our sector. Tomorrow morning, the Commons Science and Technology Committee is holding an evidence session on immigration for science and innovation. From 10.30am, there will be the opportunity to feed in from the public gallery and via Twitter. We have submitted evidence with the ABPI, but please take the opportunity to share your experiences and views on this crucial issue.

Last Tuesday saw academia, developers, supply chain and funders working in cell and gene therapy manufacturing come together, under the umbrella of MMIP and the British Society for Gene and Cell Therapy, for a BIA workshop led by Ian McCubbin OBE, with support from Oxford BioMedica, Cobra Biologics, RoslinCT, CGT Catapult and KTN. The focus of this collaborative workshop was to address how best to satisfy academic demand for cost effective materials and Advanced Therapy manufacturing from the existing UK supply base, a question raised by the MMIP Advanced Therapies Manufacturing Taskforce. We look forward to hearing more on this in due course.

On Brexit, last week the Withdrawal Bill returned to the Commons. The government narrowly avoided defeat on the “meaningful vote” amendment, which seeks to give MPs more influence on the final Brexit deal, by agreeing to table a counter-amendment that would consolidate the views of both Tory Remainers and Brexiteers. However, it is not clear what reassurances the PM offered both sides and it seems like another big party row is looming. The Withdrawal Bill is in the Lords today and returns to the Commons on Wednesday – we will continue to monitor the developments closely and update you on our upcoming Brexit webinar. Our Brexit Lead, Laura Collister, will also be speaking at City & Financial Global’s 'BREXIT: What does it mean for the Life Sciences' Summit on 20th June – you can register for a BIA member rate here.

On Wednesday, I attended the UK-EU Life Sciences Steering Group with industry colleagues and Brexit minister Robin Walker and Health minister Lord O’Shaughnessy. We discussed the status of the ongoing negotiations, why the precise definition of goods on the market matters to our sector, and planning for day one issues.

The Brexit Health Alliance, which BIA is proudly part of, has published a briefing highlighting how people across Europe currently benefit the close collaboration between the UK and EU on public health. The briefing also proposes solutions to maintain and improve a high level of public health protection after Brexit. On the theme of public health, it is positive to see the Government announcement today of increased funding to support the NHS with a 3.4% annual budget increases above inflation for NHS England.

On Thursday, we held another popular Women in Biotech evening, with two inspirational women talking about how they are revolutionising diagnostics - Nadia Whittley, CEO of Arquer Diagnostics and Elaine Warburton, CEO of QuantuMDx. We heard how they are improving early diagnostic tests for cancer in hospitals, right through to viruses and diseases in low to middle income countries. They inspired the audience to be passionate, driven, but above all to be yourself.

The EMA is hosting an SME Info Day in London on 26 October, which will provide an update on regulatory affairs topics for developers of human medicines and combined devices. The full agenda is available here and you can register here until 30 June. Our joint BIA-MHRA conference is also coming up soon on Thursday 5 July. We’ll hear from leading experts from the MHRA, government and industry on hot topics such as Brexit, accelerated access pathways for breakthrough treatments and drug device combinations. We are expecting a full house so make sure to register here.

Finally, the applications to become the BIA’s Charity of the Year 2019 close at the end of the month. Each year, we work with one chosen UK charity: connecting them the influential thought leaders within our strong ecosystem of corporate businesses, networks, academia, and associates.

Best,

Steve