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ABPI Website
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Facts, figures and industry data
Headline pharmaceutical industry statistics
The figures below provide a snapshot of key biopharmaceutical sector statistics relating to the UK’s economy and health systems. Sub-national statistics can be found via the ABPI’s interactive Pharma Impact Map. International comparisons are available in several of the source documents and within the Government’s Life Sciences Competitiveness Indicators publication. Statistics on the economic and health system benefits which can be delivered through a supportive policy environment are available in the ABPI’s manifesto.
Economic statistics
£17.6bn
direct Gross Value Added (GVA) [1]
£9.3bn
investment in UK R&D in 2024 [2]
£1 in every £6
invested by the private sector in R&D is invested by the pharmaceutical industry [3]
126,000
jobs [4]
£46.7bn
turnover [5]
£13.1bn
turnover generated by medicines manufacturing sites in the UK in 2021/22 [6]
£24.6bn
exports in 2024 [7]
£7.4bn
value contributed by industry clinical trials to the UK economy [8]
Health system statistics
£1.2bn
income to the NHS for industry clinical trials initiated in 2022/23 [9]
9%
amount the UK invests of overall healthcare spending on medicines – a significantly lower proportion than other advanced healthcare systems such as the United States (14%), France (15%), Germany (17%) and Japan (17%) [10]
19,092
patients recruited to interventional industry clinical trials in the NHS in 2024/25 (down from 30,965 in 2017/18) [11]
578
industry clinical trials initiated in the UK in 2024 (increasing from 426 trials in 2023, but below 2017 (667 trials) [12]
52%
average uptake of medicines launched between 2018 and 2022, in their first year following launch, against comparator countries [13]
References:
[1] ONS, ‘Regional gross value added (balanced) by industry: all ITL regions’, 2021. Methodology available at: https://sector-insights-map.abpi.org.uk/sources/
[2] ONS 'Business enterprise research and development UK: 2024', Dec 2025
[3] ONS 'Business enterprise research and development UK: 2024', Dec 2025
[4] ONS, ‘Industry Census Data 2021’, available at: www.ons.gov.uk/datasets/TS060/editions/2021/versions/1 (methodology available at https://sector-insights-map.abpi.org.uk/sources
[5] OLS, ‘Bioscience and health technology sector statistics 2021 to 2022’, May 2024
[6] OLS, ‘Bioscience and health technology sector statistics 2021 to 2022’, May 2024
[7] ONS, Trade in Goods: Country-by-commodity exports, accessed 12 June 2025
[8] ABPI, The value of industry clinical trials to the UK, extended report, 02 Dec 2024
[9] Frontier Economics, ‘The value of industry clinical trials to the UK - extended report', Dec 2024
[10] IQVIA, Drug Expenditure Dynamics 2000–2022, October 2025
[11] ABPI, ‘UK industry clinical trials: Translating actions into impact', Dec 2025
[12] ABPI, ‘UK industry clinical trials: Translating actions into impact', Dec 2025
[13] OLS, Life sciences sector data, 2024 - GOV.UK, July 2024
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