10 October 2022

CEO Update | 10 October 2022

We’re settling into our new (temporary) home at LABs, Victoria House in Holborn, where we will be based until our new office is ready. Please update your records with our new address.

Are we at a tipping point with pensions?

As turbulence in the markets continues, I was pleased to have the opportunity to state some constant truths to an audience of investors and life science leaders last week at the London Stock Exchange’s Future of Healthcare Investor Forum. Whatever global or national events throw at our sector, the fundamental strengths of our science, our management teams and our people mean that UK life sciences should be part of any investor’s portfolio. In my closing remarks for the conference, which we co-hosted, I reflected on how the trouble in the gilts market has shown the flaws in the pensions industry’s approach to risk management. Everyone will benefit if pension schemes can move back into equity and start investing in the UK’s innovative industries, and I believe there is an opportunity now like never before. BIA has been on this mission for a while and the Government is now moving forward with reforms we have championed, so watch this space!

New minsters and our presence at the party conferences

We have been at both the Labour and Conservative Party conferences over the past two weeks, raising the profile of our sector with new ministers and the party faithful.

We now have a new business minister with responsibility for life sciences, Nusrat Ghani MP. Our Director of External Affairs, Nicky Edwards, got the opportunity to speak to her at the party’s conference as the news of her appointment was breaking. Nusrat lists health policy as an interest, having worked at the medical research charity, Breakthrough Breast Cancer and Age UK, before joining parliament. Dean Russell MP will also be another key business minister for us, responsible for SMEs’ access to finance, the British Business Bank and intellectual property, among other things. Over in the health department, we are still waiting to see who will replace Lord Kamall as the innovation minister. We will be publishing a full briefing of the new ministers relevant to the life sciences sector once all announcements are made. I look forward to working with all of them in the coming months.

Our event at the Conservative Party conference showcased the value of apprenticeships in addressing the skills shortages in our sector but also highlighted the challenges SMEs have in taking them on and what the Government can do to help. Alongside two inspiring young apprentices and Oxford Biomedica, the panel included Theresa Villiers MP and Arron Bell MP.

Herbie from our public affairs team has written a must-read blog on our events and the life sciences agenda at both Labour and Conservative Party conferences.

BIA welcomes the EU-UK medicines regulation extension

BIA welcomes the one-year extension of the European Commission Decision Reliance Procedure (ECDRP) until 31 December 2023, issued by the MHRA. This regulatory route, which was introduced for two years in January 2021 after the UK left the EU, allows companies to apply for a Great Britain marketing authorisation for medicines granted an EU marketing authorisation via the centralised procedure.

Removing the cliff edge in December 2022 will benefit both - UK patients and life sciences companies - and allow continued timely access to new, innovative medicines.

We look forward to continuing the positive dialogue with MHRA to develop proposals for a new international reliance framework to replace the ECDRP from January 2024. The BIA’s Reflection Paper on the role and value of reliance in the UK medicines regulatory framework, published in June 2022, will make a useful contribution to our discussions. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the importance of reliance to address the significant workloads of regulators and the urgent need to deliver new and established treatments for patients globally.

Looking forward to seeing you at an upcoming event

We are almost sold out for TechBioUK, which is taking place this Thursday at Glaziers Hall in London. It is great to see this week that more UK Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated targets from Benevolent AI are now entering AstraZeneca’s portfolio, proving the value of machine learning approaches for target identification and triage process in drug discovery. This is just one of the hot topics on the event agenda and speakers who are leading and changing our industry, so will be a great event. Do come.

We’ve also got upcoming regional events in Cambridge and the North West, plus a webinar in which we will be introducing you to some key Chinese investors on the hunt for UK opportunities. See our events page for the details.

Finally, BIA members, please don’t forget to vote in our Board elections and attend our virtual AGM on Tuesday 25 October from 4.30 to 5.15 pm.

I look forward to seeing many of you at these events in the coming weeks.