CEO Update: Monday 23 April

It was great to see so many BIA members at the official opening of the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult’s new GMP manufacturing centre in Stevenage today. The formalities were done by Business Secretary Greg Clark MP, and Science and Universities Minister Sam Gymiah MP, but what inspired me was the way in which UK SME engagement has been the hallmark of the project to this point. Initial collaborators Autolus, Cell Medica, AdaptImmune, Thermo Fisher Scientific as well as the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult itself are BIA members so for me it’s fantastic to see the power of our community using the Industrial Strategy we’ve advocated to move this important part of our sector forward. 
This state of the art facility will be a real asset to the UK’s advanced therapies sector and will support the development of new large-scale manufacturing systems and capabilities, helping to bring these living medicines to patients.

In Brexit news, the UK Government commited last week in parliament to closest possible alignment with the new EU clinical trials regulation post-Brexit, following our joint statement with several sector charities, learned societies and research organisations, urging them to do so. Led by CRUK, this is a big win for patients and for researchers, as it will help to safeguard our ability to conduct cross-national clinical trials that are vital for developing new life-saving treatments.

I’ve also commented publicly on how the lack of regulatory clarity, and the EMAs Commission inspired plans are causing concern. In the interests of patients on both sides of the Channel, it is important that the EU retains access to UK expertise in a post Brexit medicines regulatory framework and that regulatory alignment is maintained to ensure continuity of medicines supply. Our latest update webinar – from last Friday is available to view here  latest Brexit briefing webinar on the BIA YouTube channel. 

Our latest quarterly BIA update is published today ‘Influencing and shaping our sector – January to April 2018’. It gives members an overview of our continued engagement with policymakers, regulatory authorities and wider stakeholders on behalf of members, since the start of the year.  I hope you find the update useful to see what we’ve been up to over the last few months and how we’ve been enabling our members’ voices to be heard at the highest levels. 

I’d also like to remind you all that a team from BIA is taking part in the gruelling Tough Mudder challenge this weekend to raise money for Parkinson’s UK, our Charity of the Year for 2018. They’ve been training hard for months now, so please give generously to help them reach their fundraising goal.  

In member news, it was great to see Benevolent AI raise $115m last week to grow and scale up its activities. It’s been very exciting to watch a UK company develop so quickly and become a world leader in the use of AI in pharma in such a short space of time. 

And finally, if you’re a PR or communications professional working in-house or at an agency, we’ll be holding a Communications Forum Dinner on the 12th of June in London to discuss recent sector developments how they can be approached from a communications perspective. Space is limited so if you’d like to attend please contact BIA Communications Executive Farhan Mitha. 

Best,
Steve.