The Department of Health & Social Care yesterday announced that £650 million will be invested in the life sciences sector to help cut NHS waiting times, improve commercial clinical trials and boost innovation. This ambitious package will support the UK’s economic growth with new commitments and funding for manufacturing, skills, and infrastructure.
‘Life Sci for Growth’ brings together 10 different policies, including:
- £121m to improve commercial clinical trials to bring new medicines to patients faster
- Up to £48m of new money for scientific innovation to prepare for any future health emergencies,
- £154m to increase the capacity of the UK’s biological data bank further aiding scientific discoveries that help human health
- Up to £250m to incentivise pension schemes to invest in our most promising science and tech firms
This package also includes plans to relaunch the Academic Health Science Network as ‘Health Innovation Networks’ to boost innovation by bringing together the NHS, local communities, charities, academia, and industry to share best practice. It also lays out changes to planning rules to free-up lab space and updates a route for East West Rail (EWR), the new railway line, to improve connections between UK science powerhouses Oxford and Cambridge, bringing more investment to the region.
Life Sciences is one of the UK’s most successful sectors, worth over £94 billion to the UK economy in 2021, (a 9% increase on the year before), and employing over 280,000 people. As a key industry driving UK growth, ministers have identified it as a focus for government, ensuring regulation aids innovation, government funding is targeted at vital projects, and investment is diverse. This also helps to deliver the Science and Technology framework through reforming regulation, boosting investment, and driving up talent and skills.
As Steve Barclay, the Health Secretary, has rightly said, “this investment is another significant step in harnessing UK innovation to help cut waiting lists - one of the government’s five priorities - and build a stronger NHS”.
This announcement demonstrates clearly that the Government recognises the importance of investing in key industries for driving economic growth, another of our 5 priorities for 2023.
Locally, this will also be a welcome boost for life sciences research for facilities such as those at the Royal Free Hospital, enabling them to do further important work on developing life-saving technology for the benefit of us all.
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