The long-awaited industry-led report to government setting out the Life Sciences Strategy was published last week to great fanfare. Professor Sir John Bell, the lead author and government-appointed Life Sciences Champion, has been touring the country speaking to companies for months. Many have been eagerly awaiting the Strategy for some time – over the past few days, organisations have been quick to show their support.
And they are right to do so. The Strategy’s vision for encouraging more government investment in key areas, as well as a more favourable fiscal, regulatory, and reimbursement environment for life sciences could provide significant opportunities for industry and benefits for patients in the long-term. For many this Strategy has come at just the right time to buoy the sector as Brexit looms, with industry leaders feeling they have been both metaphorically and literally “saved by the Bell”.
Politically, the Conservatives will hope the Strategy’s publication puts them back on the right footing with industry after an election campaign that was criticised for not being pro-business enough. With both Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Business Secretary Greg Clark accompanying Bell to Birmingham for the announcement, he is said to be confident that the recommendations in his report will be accepted. Indeed, in a joint piece penned for the Times, Hunt and Clark gave assurances that they want to “do all we can to deliver on the sector’s ambition for a great future for the life sciences sector in the UK.”
However, while this positive sentiment is welcomed, the Strategy is ultimately an industry-led document (civil servants have made this clear) and ensuring the vision comes to fruition will take commitment and collaboration from government, industry, and the NHS. Bell has openly admitted that one of the aims of the Strategy is to shift the nature of the interaction between the industry and the DH from being “essentially confrontational” to one where “they can work constructively together.”
Questions will inevitably also be raised about the amount of funding committed by the government (£160m in total), and whether the rhetoric around the Strategy will be matched by the levels of fiscal support and scale-up capital required to make it a success.
The key question now is how the government will respond and if industry can maintain enough momentum to ensure the Sector Deal stemming from this Strategy – expected by the end of the year – will have enough ‘bite’ to gain cut-through both nationally and internationally.
Many will be mindful of the challenges of the 2011 Life Sciences strategy which did not realise all of its ambitions. Despite its bold vision, many argued that a lack of resources and leadership within the NHS, as well as poor accountability in driving delivery of actions, hampered the consistency and speed of that strategy’s implementation. It will be crucial for government to ensure these lessons are learnt if the latest set of recommendations are to be successfully adopted. NHS-buy in will be key.
With no formal routes of engagement for this Strategy, ensuring open channels of communication between industry and government will be crucial, as will finding alternative methods to put the case to decision makers. The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee Inquiry on Life Sciences and the Industrial Strategy, which is due to conclude its call for evidence shortly, is one example, presenting a valuable opportunity to comment on the Strategy that the sector would be wise to seize upon.
The Life Sciences sector needs to offer positive solutions and ways in which industry can facilitate the Strategy’s success; this could be through providing expertise in the creation of therapy-specific data registries or by showcasing new ways to nurture small companies in their local patch. In communicating their asks and in holding the government’s feet to the fire on the Strategy, industry needs to be bold, and consistently creative in using evidence (people, numbers, jobs, stories) to make their case strong.
See also WA Health's report on Life Sciences Industrial Strategy.