8th May 2015
BIA launches vision for the UK life sciences sector in 2025
The UK BioIndustry Association (BIA) has launched a vision for the UK life sciences sector in 2025. This vision, developed in consultation with the BIA Board and sector experts, sets out an ambitious goal for the UK to become a top global cluster in life sciences by 2025.
If achieved, the BIA calculates the prize to be:
- Four times as many drugs and other innovations into clinic and to patients
- Private investment of £2.9bn per annum (£2.6bn p.a. more than today)
- 130 more clinical stage drug companies and management teams
- 30,000 – 60,000 additional high skill UK jobs
- A salary pool – and consequential tax revenue – that is £5bn – £10bn p.a. more than today
Indications of achieving this vision include:
- The UK delivering global benefits to humanity, especially via improved health
- A distinct and differentiated cluster, building off the UK’s unique health assets and science capability
- A thriving commercial innovation pyramid, building a strong tier of mid-sized companies above the UK’s vibrant start-up community, with at least three top 10 pharma companies headquartered in the UK
- World-leading global management talent
- The UK widely acknowledged as Europe’s clear biotech hub leader and within the global top three
The vision document sets out an analysis of the current landscape; where there are issues that impact on the system and where there is room for improvement; and a working hypothesis on how to take the sector from where it is in 2015 to where it could be a decade out in 2025.
Launching the document ahead of the BIA Committee Summit, taking place in Oxford on 29 April, Edward Hodgkin, BIA Chairman, said:
“As the government’s Accelerated Access Review sets out, ensuring the UK remains a globally competitive location to undertake drug discovery and development is crucial to the UK’s future health and wealth. This vision document sets out a global ambition for the UK, highlighting both where the sector needs to collaborate more effectively and pointing to UK strengths which can be capitalised upon to make it the global heavy-hitter it should and can be.”
Steve Bates, CEO of the BIA commented:
“UK life sciences are already in great shape but have the potential to go so much further. Achieving its full potential will be a collective effort across government, investors, industry, academia, funders, charities, patients and the health service. The BIA publishes this document as a contribution to debate and looks forward to building the UK’s success with the wider ecosystem.”
“This thoughtful analysis is an industry inspired vision of the potential prize for our sector. The UK truly has the potential to be a world leader in biotech, a key part of the economy of the future. We need to match world class financing and company growth capacities to our world class capabilities in science.”