CEO Update - 17 July 2023
The UK Government published its latest Life Science Competitiveness Indicators with little ceremony late last week. They show that there is still work to be done to make the UK a science superpower utilising the innovative capability of a sector for both health and wealth.
The UK finally signed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) over the weekend. This much-heralded deal could add 0.08% to the size of the UK economy over the next decade, according to government estimates. Few in our sector have argued it will make a significant difference to the life science competitiveness indicators reported last week.
What many are far more interested in is whether the UK will join the Horizon Europe scheme. Despite frenzied speculation, no agreement was announced when the Prime Minister met EU leaders in the margins of the NATO Summit. Joining Horizon Europe was part of the original Brexit deal but has not yet materialised. The question that intrigues me is whether there is a discussion ongoing about the innovation that comes from the science schemes, and how that will be translated into companies, rather than simply the money and terms of the present scheme.
End of term at Westminster
This week is the last week before summer recess at Westminster. The by-elections on Thursday will set the political tone for the summer, but we’ll be watching the last-minute consultations and publications. Who knows, we may even see reshuffles.
#LeaP100
Congratulations to the BIA’s Manufacturing Advisory Committee (MAC) Leadership Programme called LeaP, which has now had more than 100 participants. Check out the blog for what they’ve been up to.
Alzheimer’s drug clinical trials
Donanemab, an experimental Alzheimer’s drug made by Eli Lilly, slowed cognitive decline by about 35% in early-stage patients, according to data published in JAMA, the peer-reviewed Journal of the American Medical Association.
The late-phase clinical trial enrolled about 1,700 people with mild cognitive impairment or early dementia - the earliest stages of symptomatic disease - who had a buildup of the toxic protein amyloid beta in their brains.
Steve Bates OBE
CEO, BioIndustry Association
