CEO Update | 20 February 2023

I’m looking forward to seeing many of you at this year's BIA Committee Summit this Thursday – always a vibrant and engaging event with BIA member expertise overflowing the venue – which this year is Church House in Westminster. The idea of the day is for each of our expert Advisory Committees to hold their first meeting of the year in the same place at the same time – so they can come together in a plenary session to understand common themes and make connections. The social at the end of the day also helps with serendipitous mixing.

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

More detail on the new Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) is emerging – both in terms of senior civil service leadership and priorities set for the department by the Prime Minister. Priority outcome one is well aligned with the work we’ve been doing on increasing investment into innovative UK life science businesses: “optimise public R&D investment to support areas of relative UK strength and increase the level of private R&D to make our economy the most innovative in the world”. With George Freeman in the Minister of State role, we know he’ll bring his experience and expertise from our sector to bear on this agenda.

Spring Budget

On the Westminster front policy activity ahead of the Spring budget is hotting up as the competing priorities on the HM Treasury purse become clearer by the day. We continue to make the case for a supportive business environment for life science-based startups and scaleups – and I’m looking forward to meeting MPs in the Houses of Parliament tomorrow evening to highlight the opportunity for the UK to be a leader in synbio for human health. The event is being held by the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee APPG in partnership with bit.bio which is good to see.

Northern Ireland Protocol

I’m also keeping a close eye on developments in the Northern Ireland Protocol, which are expected to move this week. The BIA has worked hard on the complex regulatory issues with a focus on medicines down the years and UK government officials and ministers are well aware of our preferred approach. This week will see if Rishi Sunak’s government are able to broker a deal with politicians in Northern Ireland and their backbenchers that can unlock important developments for the sector like the UK’s participation in Horizon Europe.
 

Steve Bates Headshot.png

 

 

Steve Bates OBE
CEO, BioIndustry Association

More news and updates

Data from Brainomix’s Collaboration with AstraZeneca Shows its AI-Powered e-Lung Better Identifies Lung Fibrosis Patients at Risk of Decline

Brainomix and AstraZeneca partnered to analyze the Phase 2 tralokinumab clinical trial data of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) patients, leveraging Brainomix’s AI-powered e-Lung software and biomarkers to uncover novel insights. Published data shows e-Lung could play a role in stratifying patients in clinical trials most at risk of decline, outperforming current standard measures.

Eight things we learned about commercialising medical research at Imperial's 'All You Can Innovate' 2024

Why to channel Scottish polymath Mary Somerville, how timing can make or break a startup, and other lessons from experts at All You Can Innovate 2024.

PrecisionLife and NATA announce R&D partnership to jointly develop new motor neurone disease

Leading precision medicine and nucleic acid therapy (NAT) innovators will harness their platforms to develop NAT drug candidates for novel gene targets with strong genetic association to sporadic ALS. The programme will be supported by mechanism-based patient stratification biomarkers to identify likely responders and accelerate and derisk clinical development.

Laverock Therapeutics announces appointment of Ali Elsley as Finance Director and expansion of team

Laverock Therapeutics, a gene-silencing company with a uniquely powerful technology for the development of programmable advanced therapies to tackle major diseases, today announces the appointment of Ali Elsley as Finance Director.

CEO Update - 25 March 2024

I’m delighted to be opening PULSE this morning. It is a free three-day leadership and entrepreneurship training programme for up-and-coming life sciences entrepreneurs that we’ve developed and delivered with the Francis Crick Institute. Read on for the latest on EU biotech initiatives, Biosecurity Leadership Council and boost for UK cell and gene therapy.

AstraZeneca to acquire Fusion to accelerate the development of next-generation radioconjugates to treat cancer

AstraZeneca has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Fusion Pharmaceuticals Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing next-generation radioconjugates (RCs). The acquisition marks a major step forward in AstraZeneca delivering on its ambition to transform cancer treatment and outcomes for patients by replacing traditional regimens like chemotherapy and radiotherapy with more targeted treatments.

More within