BIA update – 8 December 2025
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', calling for a connected, flexible and risk-proportionate access pathway to turn discovery into delivery for patients facing high unmet need; and today 'UK cell and gene therapy: driving efficiencies and innovation' celebrates real-world UK success.
We are also so excited to announce our 2026 Charity Partnership of the year with Muscular Dystrophy UK – looking forward to seeing what we can achieve together! Great news too for the sector with the news that the British Business Bank has made its largest ever investment of $100 million into the SV8 fund – demonstrating confidence in UK life sciences.
Jane Wall
Managing Director, BIA
UK cell and gene therapy: driving efficiencies and innovation
Today sees the release of the UK cell and gene therapy: driving efficiencies and innovation report, demonstrating the real-world success and scalable manufacturing available in the UK’s globally competitive ecosystem.
The report provides a comprehensive analysis of the UK cell and gene therapy sector, focusing keenly on the innovative technologies and strategic investments that are driving scale. UK-based companies are actively addressing manufacturing bottlenecks through automation and digitalisation, and this focus on operational excellence will be key to unlocking future success.
The promise of cell and gene therapies is no longer a future aspiration; it is today's clinical reality. The past year provided compelling validation of the UK’s commitment to this sector, demonstrated powerfully by Autolus Therapeutics' success. It underscores the profound capability of our ecosystem, from UCL spinout through UK clinical trials to domestic manufacturing. to bring global-leading medicines to patients.
Cell and Gene Therapy Community Connects
In conjunction with the exciting release, last Wednesday, 3 December, we hosted an exclusive, members-only gathering designed to bring together the BIA’s new Cell and Gene Therapy Community with our Cell and Gene Therapy Advisory Committee (CGTAC). Participants gained a deeper understanding of CGTAC’s policy work, key initiatives shaping the cell and gene therapy landscape, and had a chance to connect with fellow professionals in a supportive and collaborative environment.
From innovation to impact: unlocking patient access to innovative rare disease medicines
Last week also saw the release of From innovation to impact: unlocking patient access to innovative rare disease medicines, our report calling for a new pathway to give UK patients access to innovative rare disease medicines.
Despite the UK’s rare disease ecosystem having a solid foundation, more work is needed to build a connected, flexible and risk-proportionate access pathway to turn discovery into delivery for patients facing high unmet need. This report, developed by the BIA’s Rare Disease Industry Group (RDIG), lands at a critical time as the UK considers how innovative and cutting-edge medicines are valued following the landmark UK-US pharmaceuticals deal.
With NICE reviewing its methodology for assessing health benefits, and the MHRA developing a new regulatory pathway for rare disease therapies, there is an opportunity to propel the UK’s position as a global leader in rare diseases innovation and ensure NHS patients can benefit from the latest advances. The report sets out solutions to enable this.
HMRC workshop
This week, BIA hosted a workshop for HMRC, where a few members of our Finance and Tax Advisory Committee (FTAC) provided insight into the nuances of the UK life sciences sector and some of the intricacies of R&D tax relief claims from life science companies.
The audience was composed of HMRC staff who work directly with R&D tax relief claims and the session was intended to help HMRC better understand the sector, so that claims from the life sciences can be processed more effectively and efficiently.
The session was both well attended and well received, and the BIA intends to continue working with HMRC in this capacity to make sure that the reliefs are delivering for UK life sciences as intended.
Precision Breeding Act
The EU is catching up with us, having finally agreed to bring in its own law on precision breeding, which they call new genomic techniques (NGT). Whilst our two frameworks aren’t entirely the same, some of the most problematic bits of the proposed EU law – mandatory labelling requirements and a ban on patents for seeds – have been dropped.
This comes as the UK and EU negotiate an SPS deal on plant and animal health. This deal could effectively align the UK with EU rules to have fewer border checks and make trading smoother and easier. Whilst this is, in general, a good thing for the sector, aligning rules with the EU puts the UK’s precision breeding act at risk to facilitate the deal, although the UK government has entered negotiations aiming to secure a carve-out. The new NGT law now reduces that risk, as the UK and EU approaches to gene editing are now much more similar.
We’re looking forward to welcoming our European and global collaborators for plenty of discussion on this at our flagship BioSolutions UK conference in April 2026.
Charity Partnership of the Year 2026
We are very excited to announce Muscular Dystrophy UK as our charity partner of the year for 2026. Through this partnership, the BIA will leverage the network it has fostered in the UK life sciences and biotech sector to support those affected by muscle-wasting conditions.
The BIA will support Muscular Dystrophy UK through strategic opportunities and fundraising activities over the next 12 months. The partnership will be formally launched at the BIA Gala Dinner, taking place on Thursday, 29 January 2026, at the Roundhouse in Camden, London.
There are over 60 different muscle-wasting conditions and the partnership aims to raise the profile of this group of rare conditions. It will spotlight the importance of having access to new treatments and receiving the right support, as well as highlighting the need to improve the speed, accuracy and equity of diagnosis.
This partnership is about more than fundraising – it’s about shining a spotlight on the urgent need for innovation and collaboration to improve the lives of those affected by muscle wasting conditions.
BIA Board election outcome
BIA members have elected two new additions to BIA's Board of Directors, beginning their terms on 1 January 2026. BIA members elect or re-elect five Board Directors from the membership – four from the corporate membership category and one from our associate/network companies.
The elections were held in the weeks leading up to the AGM, which was held in October 2025 and was attended by over 40 member companies. The following members will join the BIA Board for a three-year term, adding to the considerable industry expertise that the Association can draw upon:
Newly elected to the BIA Board:
- Chris Sheldon, Senior Vice President & Global Head of Business Development, GSK
- Anne Horgan, Partner, Cambridge Innovation Capital
Re-elected to the Board:
- Sunil Shah, Chief Executive Officer, o2h Ventures
- Claire Thompson, Chief Executive Officer, Agility Life Sciences
- Anna Williamson, Executive Director, Roche Corporate Business Development
Congratulations to our new and re-elected Board members.
Webinars: Budget and Our Future Health
We were pleased to see relatively few surprises in Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Budget last month, and our experts hosted a Budget webinar last week, where they unpacked what’s behind the headlines and explained what it means for UK life sciences and biotech. Watch the webinar recording.
Join our webinar tomorrow, delivered by Our Future Health – the UK's largest health research programme with a cohort of over 2.5 million consented participants – to discover how they can accelerate your R&D by providing access to powerful new data types and enabling participant recruitment for your studies and clinical trials. With over 2.5 million consented participants, Our Future Health is now making new data types available, including imputed data, geographic data and dispensed medication records. The programme also enables participant recruitment to support a wide range of research and clinical trial needs.
Women in Biotech - London
On Wednesday, the last Women in Biotech event of 2025 will feature a panel packed with deal-making and entrepreneurship success stories. Come and hear from CEOs who have delivered deals and taken their companies to the next level. See you there!
NB: Allyship is something we fully appreciate and this event is open to all.
