Fast facts

​The pharmaceutical industry is immensely valuable for the UK and contributes greatly to both the health of the population and the economy as a whole. It is committed to working together with the UK Government and the NHS to deliver value for money from medicines, better patient access to medicines and to ensure innovation and research are appropriately rewarded.

For key facts on NHS spending on medicines, please see the Ten key facts on the medicines bill page.

• The pharmaceutical industry in the UK has helped to increase overall UK life expectancy, which in 2007–09 was 77.7 years for men and 81.9 for women¹
• Patient outcomes are improving in priority disease areas – for example, in cancer there has been a 12% decrease in all-malignancies mortality for men and an 8% decrease for women since 1999²
• Improvements in medical and surgical treatments accounted for a 36% reduction in coronary heart disease mortality between 1998 and 2007³
• 83% of all prescriptions between 1998 and 2008 were for a generic medicine, which saves the NHS around £7 billion a year, allowing it to afford more innovative new medicines⁴
• UK medicines prices are among the lowest in Europe⁵
• The development of a new medicine takes between 12 and 15 years⁶
• Only one in 5,000 compounds tested in the laboratory are actually approved by regulatory authorities following clinical testing⁷
• The pharmaceutical industry invests more in research and development than any other industry within the UK, currently around £12.1million every day⁸
• The pharmaceutical industry is a major UK employer, employing around 72,000 people directly⁹
• The pharmaceutical sector now makes a greater contribution to the UK economy than any other industrial sector¹⁰
• The trade surplus for the pharmaceutical sector in the UK was circa £7 billion in 2009¹¹. For a detailed description on trade data, please visit the Knowledge hub.

For more in-depth information about the pharmaceutical industry in the UK please see the Did you know? report (PDF, 4.8MB).

References

1. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp?ID=168. Accessed September 2010.  
2. http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/cancerstats/mortality/timetrends/index.htm
3. OHE calculations performed 2010, based on DR07 Department of Health, Vital Events reference tables. General Registry Office for Scotland, Demographic
   Statistics NISRA , Annual Abstract of Statistics ONS.
4. Prescriptions Dispensed in the Community. Statistics for 1999 to 2009, The Health and Social Care Information Centre. Prescribing Support Unit. July 2010
5. PPRS reports to Parliament 6th (2002) and 10th (2009) editions.
6. Vernon JA, Golec JH, Dimasi JA. Drug development costs when financial risk is measured using the Fama-French three-factor model. Health Economics 2009 doi: 10.1002/hec.1538
7. Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, Pharmaceutical Industry Profile 2008
8. Source: ONS UK Business Enterprise Research and Development, 2009
9. Employment in R&D in UK businesses, BER D, 2008, released 2009
10. Business Monitor MM20 (HM Customs and Excise) and Business Monitor MQ20 (HM Customs and Excise)
11. HM Revenue & Customs trade info database www.uktradeinfo.com