Announcements made today to strip bureaucracy around clinical trials, incentivising the NHS to improve access to trials and to review the NHS approach to the adoption of new medicines are a promising step forward for patient care.

The measures set out today reflect the remarkable success of the Office for Life Sciences and demonstrate the opportunities that can be realised when Government, Industry and Academia work in collaboration.

Key areas

Clinical trials

• Industry welcomes the measures to reduce red tape and improve NHS performance in clinical trials and believes this will lead to faster patients access to new medicines, whilst making the UK a more attractive place to do business
• This marks a significant step on the journey of improving the environment in the UK for clinical trials
• Industry welcomes that clinical trials has been properly incentivised, and that NHS Chief Executives will be involved in this process

NHS Procurement

• The behaviour of the NHS and the attitude towards new medicines is crucial to the business environment for the pharmaceutical industry. It is a significant step forwards for both industry and patients that Government has recognised the inter-relation of these two issues. In combination with the improvements in clinical trials, the suggested report will be a step to embedding a culture of clinical research across the NHS 
• The industry welcomes the opportunity to work with David Nicholson and other partners in driving this forwards

Fiscal

• This budget is a powerful statement of intent about the government’s determination to maintain the attractiveness of the UK
• Continued support to drive forward the patent box is an important part of demonstrating this Government’s commitment to industry
• Additional measures such as the R&D tax credit, reduction in corporation tax and doubling entrepreneurs relief will open up opportunities for the pharmaceutical industry in the UK

Skills

• The industry welcomes the opportunity to work with Cogent to improve the skills agenda and is pleased to see this important issue being pioneered by this group. Industry believes this will further improve the UK environment and contribute to the UK maintaining a competitive edge for industry.

Intellectual property

• Government’s decision to look at the Bolar exemption will make a significant difference to running clinical trials in the UK and is welcomed by industry  
  Translational Research Partnerships
• Industry welcomes the continuation of the Therapeutic Capability Cluster initiative  in the shape of Translational Research Partnerships and welcomes of the ownership of these partnerships by NOCRI
• This was a key platform of the OLS agenda and a welcome development

ABPI media line

“Industry warmly welcomes measures in the Budget to cut red tape and improve the process for clinical trials, a significant step towards faster patient access to new medicines whilst also making the UK a more attractive place to do business. We look forward to working with the NHS Chief Executive on the report on the adoption of new medicines in the NHS which would be a very promising step forward. This, together with the package of measures around skills, IP, tax credits and breaks and the continuation of translational research partnerships, shows that Britain is a strong competitor and place to do business for our industry. The measures set out today reflect the success of the Office for Life Sciences and demonstrate the opportunities that can be realised when Government, Industry and Academia work in collaboration”.