CEO Update | Monday 17 June

Today, the BIA is pleased to publish a new report, ‘Life sciences: Catalysing investment and growth'. which sets out how our sector is driving investment and growth across the UK and makes the case for increased cost-effective public investment in the sector. The report aims to inform the Government, UKRI and other policy makers as they prepare for the forthcoming Spending Review and develop an R&D roadmap to reach 2.4% R&D target.

This afternoon, I’m chairing a roundtable with BIA members, civil servants and funders to discuss the key themes in the report and how we can all work together to meet our shared ambitions to raise R&D investment and capture the health, social and economic benefits for the UK. Given the dynamic political landscape in the UK and the present lack of clarity around the timetable of the Spending Review we will update and develop this report to ensure it remains relevant and impactful in the coming weeks and months ahead.  

The BIA summer events are now well underway with our first Oxford-based Women in Biotech event a great success last week. We will hear from two companies at our networking lunch in Alderley Park, Cheshire tomorrow which have successfully implemented the Business Model Canvas to their company while scaling-up. They will cover how they adjusted their organisational thinking to have a dual-sided approach to growth, combining both improvements in efficiencies and enhanced innovation.

This Thursday I am speaking at the Medicines Manufacturing Industry Partnership (MMIP) Annual Conference, organised by ABPI and hosted by Pfizer at Discovery Park in Sandwich. The BIA is a partner in MMIP and continues to raise the issue of medicines manufacturing for the sector at the Life Sciences Council, a partnership between government and industry. I look forward to seeing many of you in Sandwich.

Keeping up the momentum, we will have our UK CEO and Investor Forum next week at the DeVere Latimer Estate and will be mixing with even more of the industry in a few weeks’ time at the BIA Summer Networking Reception at Tower Bridge on 11 July.  If you prefer your events to be of the digital variety, a brand-new BIA webinar series launches this month, developed by the BIA’s Science and Innovation Advisory Committee (SIAC). The Bench to Bedside webinars will explore the drug discovery process and conclude with a panel session at the UK Bioscience Forum in October.

In preparation for the Bioindustry Association’s CEO & Investor Forum next week, we have organised a visit by a delegation of experts from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEx) and Hong Kong Science Park to the UK. While they are here, we have organised a meeting in the City of London this Friday (21 June), in collaboration with KPMG, to discuss how the HKEx fits into the global stock market offering. This is particularly relevant after last week’s headline news that Han­soh Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal raised a bil­lion dol­lars on the HKEx in an IPO and  plan to use half the capital for R&D.

I look forward to seeing many of you at the CEO & Investor Forum next week.