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Tuesday, February 20, 2007
The boost given to research and development in the Budget has been
welcomed by the research-based pharmaceutical industry in Britain.
"We welcome any steps that can boost the UK's bioscience-based
industry in the face of global competition," said Dr Richard
Barker, Director General of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical
Industry (ABPI).
The ABPI commended the Budget's focus on investment in science,
including an additional £100 million for partnerships between
academia and industry. The pharmaceutical industry works on 330
collaborative ventures with academia in the UK and trains 670 PhD
students. And an above-inflation rise in the science budget - if
translated into lab research - will clearly be welcome.
The reduced rate of Corporation Tax will also be a modest but welcome
step in the right direction in support of high technology bio-manufacturing,
where tax breaks in other countries have had an adverse effect on
the UK's global position. However, capital allowances are also significant
and we will need to study the net effect.
"The UK-based pharmaceutical industry spends some £9
million a day on researching new and innovative medicines, and the
Chancellor's moves to reinforce UK biopharmaceutical R&D can
only help the UK in its bid to attract more of this highly skilled
work. Both basic biomedical research and translational medicine
- bringing medicines from the lab to the clinic - are crucial elements
in UK competitiveness, as Sir David Cooksey highlighted in his report,"
said Dr Barker.
The continued increased investment in the NHS has received praise,
although the ABPI stressed that additional money should be used
to benefit patients. "With increased resource, it is to be
hoped that the remaining barriers preventing patients being given
access to the latest, innovative medicines can be removed to bring
benefit to the health of men, women and children," said Dr
Barker.
For further information, please contact:
Richard Ley (work) 020 7747 1410 (mobile) 07715 169727
Matt Worrall (work) 020 7747 1441 (mobile) 07879 404306
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