BIA update – 17 November 2025 

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.

Jane Wall
Managing Director, BIA

London Life Sciences Week

We're kicking off London Life Sciences Week (LLSW), one of the absolute highlights of the UK life sciences calendar, and the energy is incredible. There is a tangible surge in international interest here in London, and this week is our vital platform to truly showcase the UK’s investment appeal and drive those crucial global connections. Please do make the most of the BIA member lounge and the networking platform and we hope that you have a successful and productive week!  

Last night’s Welcome to London Reception attracted over 200 guests and many international visitors to Somerset House and we heard from Dr. Zubir Ahmed, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Howard Dawber, Deputy Mayor for Business and Chair of London and Partners, Angela Kukula, CEO of MedCity, Ian Murchie, Head of Life Sciences and Healthtech at Barclays Corporate Banking, and Steve Bates, Executive Chair of OLS – all reflecting on the great potential of UK life sciences – with Ian reflecting that deals are significantly picking up and M&A moving at pace.  Great to see so many familiar faces and make new connections.

Today the London Life Sciences Pavilion opened its doors at 180 Studios, The Strand, with a day-long agenda around The Future of Life Sciences, kicked off by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and Patrick Vallance, Minister of State for Science, Research, Innovation, and Nuclear, leading expert discussions on innovation, genomics, and the role of universities.

We are looking forward in particular to Wednesday at Victoria House, when our International Investor Summit in collaboration with London & Partners and the Department for Business and Trade will be followed by the 3rd Biotech CEO and Investor Reception in collaboration with BioCentury, Pioneer Group and Precision BioSearch. The news today of Sofinnova closing a $750 million fund, with backing from the British Business Bank guaranteeing a good chunk of that capital will be allocated to UK companies, sets us up for a positive week of deal-making.

Launch of BioSolutions UK as we welcome pro-innovation regulation

Last week, the regulatory framework enabled by the Precision Breeding Act was finally enacted. Six months after the regulation received royal assent, UK innovators now have a legal route to carry out research and seek market approval for precision bred crops in the UK. The new authorisation process is based on a two-tiered approach, with a proportionate level of safety assessment based on the level of risk presented by the precision bred organism (PBO). To support the now active legal framework, Defra and FSA have published guidance covering the use of precision bred crops for research and development, and for market authorisation.  This marks a pivotal moment in the development of a science-based framework to support innovation in agriculture, of which the BIA have been long-term advocates and pushed hard for this to be retained as the UK starts to align with Europe.

Last week, we also participated in a high-level roundtable on 'Bioengineering and Cosmetics,' chaired by OPSS CEO Graham Russell and Lord David Willetts (Chair of RIO), alongside key BIA members like Extracellular and Twig Bio. The meeting aimed to deepen government understanding of how current frameworks, specifically UK REACH and Cosmetic Regulations, impact innovation. These direct industry engagements are essential as we work with regulators to streamline existing rules, ensuring they remain adaptive and robust for novel bio-based ingredients while upholding the highest safety standards. This engagement is a vital step toward securing pro-innovation policy for the engineering biology sector and for biosolutions.

With all this fantastic momentum, it’s perfect timing then to launch BIA’s pioneering new event: BioSolutions UK. Taking place on Tuesday, 21 April 2026 at Glaziers Hall, London, BioSolutions UK is the definitive industry forum where engineering biology, industry and policy converge. Whether you're proving your concept, building at scale, or looking to invest into a bio-based future, this will be a great opportunity to influence and to connect with both UK and international stakeholders. We believe that the future is bio-engineered…

Driving discussions on access to rare disease medicines

The BIA dinner last Thursday provided a timely opportunity to bring together the UK General Managers and Country Leads of the BIA’s Rare Disease Industry Group (RDIG) and Lawrence Tallon, CEO at MHRA, to discuss the challenges and opportunities to addressing barriers in improving access to innovative rare disease medicines for NHS patients.  

It was excellent to hear how MHRA is keeping rare diseases on the agenda and working to address the significant treatment gap for people living with rare conditions and their families, including through the role of international reciprocity and, crucially, through plans to significantly reform the regulatory pathway for rare disease therapies to make it easier and faster for these innovative and life-saving drugs to be approved in the UK. The BIA looks forward to working with the MHRA and all system partners to ensure this ambition translates to system-wide improvements for patients accessing these treatments.

UK sector impact

It was a fresh reminder (for those who need it) of the significance of life sciences companies to the UK economy seeing AstraZeneca cementing its lead as UK’s largest stock by market value; the Metsera bidding war concluded (remembering the UK origins of the $10 billion deal); ambitious plans from the Wellcome Genome Campus, and a new consortium lead by Oxford University Equinox, convening over 40 regional partners and reflecting an ongoing commitment to using its research and networks to support regional and national growth.