Initiatives Could Create 30,000 – 60,000 New UK Jobs, Claim BIA
The BioIndustry Association (BIA) has published a number of initiatives that they claim would rank the UK among the three largest biotech clusters in the world, and could create between 30,000 and 60,000 additional UK jobs.
In addition to the increase jobs, the main objectives of the 10-year plan include a fourfold increase in the number of new drugs and other interventions entering the clinic by 2025, alongside a tenfold increase in private investment to £2.9bn a year.
With investors regaining their appetite for biotech ventures and government reforms such as Innovate UK’s Catapults and the Biomedical Catalyst helping to nurture early stage innovation, the report claims that the current environment is ready for the resurgence of the UK’s biotech sector.
The challenge now for the UK life sciences sector is to develop the plans into a thriving commercial sector with a minimum of three leading pharmaceutical companies headquartered in the UK, a strong tier of mid-size organisations, and all top 10 multinationals, actively sourcing deals from UK talent.
The BioIndustry Association have noted that they would like to add at least 130 more clinical stage drug development companies to the UK biotech ecosystem by 2025, helping increase the salary pool in the UK by five to ten billion pounds.
Key to BIA’s vision is removing the current barriers between the private and public sector. To meet the ambitions plans, there needs to be collaboration between multiple parties, for example accessing the rich data assets of the NHS, working closely with medical charities, and industry bringing their understanding of “markets and unmet need.”
The report also noted that steps need to be taken to encourage more academics and clinicians to get involved in building businesses, and that a strategic view of innovation opportunities is required, that focuses on patient benefits and avoids spreading resources too thinly.
There also needs to be an acceptance by all parties that projects will sometimes fail, with measure put in place to make sure that if they do it happens early on. BIA also outline that a greater investment in bringing forward talent with the scientific expertise, skills, and commercial insight to improve the uptake of good science that will benefit patients is needed.