Blogs

At FTI Consulting, working closely with the BIA’s Finance and Treasury Committee and HMRC, we have devoted a great deal of time interpreting the new legislation for qualifying overseas expenditure and guidance.

In this blog, Matej Metkovic, CEO and Founder of Wasteless Bio, explores the valuable unused equipment sitting in labs that quietly erodes in worth.

As 2025 draws to a close, the UK life sciences and biotech sector looks back on a year of challenge, progress, collaboration and impact. From funding headwinds and policy uncertainty to major fundraising achievements, government commitments and rising global confidence in the UK, BIA highlights the key developments shaping the sector and sets the stage for a strong 2026.

In this blog, Blood Cancer UK reflects on a year of partnership with BIA — from raising vital funds and forging new connections in life sciences, to amplifying the voice of people affected by blood cancer across the UK.

Our final blog of 2025 celebrates some excellent fundraising news to close the year, while highlighting key opportunities to engage with and shape the UK life sciences agenda — including the development of UK engineering biology, data policy, a cross-cancer research policy position and salary benchmarking.

BIA thought leadership takes centre stage with two key reports published: last week saw the release of 'From innovation to impact: unlocking patient access to innovative rare disease medicines', and today 'UK cell and gene therapy: driving efficiencies and innovation' celebrates real-world UK success.

Meet the newly elected BIA Board members bringing fresh expertise to shape the future of life sciences.

In this blog, Ethan Almond, Content & Communications Executive at BIA, explores the influence of the BIA’s bioProcessUK conference. The 22nd edition highlighted the UK’s leadership in bioprocessing.

Hot off the press  – the UK-US pharma deal is announced, plus key policy changes impacting how NICE evaluates cost-effectiveness. Last week delivered bucketloads for our sector – and we are still unpicking it...

In this analysis by Dr Martin Turner, Director of Policy and External Affairs, BIA, discover how the 2025 Budget could supercharge UK life sciences scale-ups with major investment incentives - while also highlighting potential risks from rising business rates.

From stronger STEM foundations and digital/AI literacy in schools to clearer post-16 technical pathways and lifelong learning opportunities, these reforms offer a once-in-a-generation chance to prepare a workforce ready for the next wave of biotech innovation.

In this blog, Lewis Miles, Policy and Public Affairs Manager at the BIA, reflects on an intense period of engagement with Ministers and Parliament ahead of the Autumn Budget.

In this spotlight feature, Bev Cameron, Sales Director for EMEA & APAC at Aldevron, shares how the company is helping accelerate next-generation genomic medicines, from personalised CRISPR therapies to ready-to-scale platforms that support innovators across the development journey.

London Life Sciences Week was a huge success last week, with significant increase in investors and life sciences execs coming together to connect and network.  Combined with the news of two new significant fund raises from Sofinnova and Medicxi and progress towards completion of the British Growth Partnership Fund, it did feel that the sector found a lot to be hopeful about. 

In this blog, Dr Kate Barclay, Skills Strategy Consultant at BIA, explores two pivotal developments — the National Curriculum review and Skills England’s AI Skills for the UK Workforce report — and what they mean for preparing the next generation of scientifically confident, AI-literate talent for biotech.

In a landscape where efficiency, scalability, and quality are critical, automation is no longer just about doing more; it’s about understanding more. Olivia Dell-Price, Pharmaceutical Automation Specialist at Labman, explores how the future of biomanufacturing is becoming intelligent, connected and data-driven.

AI-powered protein engineering promises speed, precision and scalability - but only if you have the right data. For most teams, that’s the biggest barrier. For ACROBiosystems, it’s a decade-long advantage. Read this blog by Ruiyuan Zheng, Marketing Product Manager, ACROBiosystems, to learn more about how they solved it. 

London Life Sciences Week kicked off last night with a buzzing reception at Somerset House and we’re looking forward to a jam-packed week of networking and events. Great to see the incredible hard work from the BIA and L&P teams come to life – shining a global light on the incredible UK ecosystem. At the same time, we’re seeing the UK take a leading role in pro-innovation regulation, from last week’s enactment of the Precision Breeding Act to Lawrence Tallon’s insights on the MHRA’s proportionate, strategic future approach, and now need the government to invest in the sector and ensure the commercial environment enables the UK to build on this world-beating foundation.

BIA’s influence and connect were out in force last week – grasping a timely opportunity to get our key Autumn Budget asks across impactfully to the Chancellor with the clear backing of over 200 member CEOs, and putting on a dynamic, pro-innovation Future of UK Regulation conference, featuring MHRA and NICE CEOs amongst other key stakeholders.

In this blog, Chris Sadler, Development Lead at Astrea Bioseparations Ltd, explores how combining multiple interaction mechanisms in chromatography can unlock new, cost-effective solutions for complex downstream challenges.