ABPI response to the new Industrial Strategy

The government’s new Industrial Strategy reaffirms its commitment to growing the economy. The key test for life sciences will be whether it can return the UK to international competitiveness.

Alongside the broader Industrial Strategy, the government has committed to publishing eight additional key growth sector plans, including one for the life sciences industry. The life sciences plan is expected to complement and work in concert with the upcoming NHS 10-year plan to ensure industry and the NHS can continue to work in partnership for the benefit of UK patients and the wider British economy.

Commenting on the industrial strategy, Richard Torbett, Chief Executive of the ABPI said: “This strategy sets out a clear vision for how to grow the UK economy and is rightly focused on many of the key inputs the country needs to get right to create the conditions for success. The task now must be to move quickly from planning to delivery, rapidly boosting UK attractiveness for investment and returning the country to international competitiveness.

“For UK life sciences, a successful strategy means ensuring the UK is not only a cutting-edge place to research and develop the medicine of the future, but also a country which seeks to embrace and use the life-changing innovations we are developing. This will be the key litmus test for success in the upcoming life science sector plan and the NHS 10-year plan, where we hope to see more detail.”