LONDON - The UK 's Life Sciences Blueprint--an urgent bid to kick-start a sector that's increasingly important to the nation's future growth, especially in the light of the downturn in financial services--offers some near-term financial relief to cash-strapped biotechs, as well as measures to boost innovation and access.
Most attention following the Blueprint's launch last week was on the Innovation Pass, which will allow certain innovative drugs to gain reimbursement and access before evaluation by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE). (See "UK Gov't Outlines NICE's New 'Innovation Pass', EuroPharma Today, Jul 14, 2009).
But the UK government has also said it will provide £150 million in seed money, on condition of private sector matching, into a UK Innovation and Investment Fund that it hopes may leverage sufficient private financing to become a £1 billion, 10-year fund. Investments will be made in start-ups, spin-outs and small businesses across four high-tech, high-growth sectors, but Science & Innovation Minister Lord Drayson said he expected about a third to be in life sciences.
He said the first investments may be made at the end of this year, reflecting an overall sense of urgency within the Office of Life Sciences, the cross-departmental group created specifically to produce this Blueprint and kick-start its implementation.
The package also promises a reconsideration of UK tax regimes to ensure the system encourages innovation--in particular versus other more attractive tax policies in overseas markets. Corporation tax rates have come under the spotlight, although there are no concrete changes planned nor any clear affirmation that anything will change at all.
Besides a GBP18 million programme to support key areas of commercial R&D and R&D partnerships in regenerative medicine--in an attempt to capitalize on the UK's leading position in this field--the Blueprint also includes measures to try to rebuild the UK's position as a site for clinical trials, build a more integrated life sciences industry (including at the academic and educational level) and stimulate innovation within the National Health Service.
"This is not a vision or a strategy document, but a to-do list," Drayson emphasized at the end of a press conference announcing the package.
- Melanie Senior (m.senior@elsevier.com)
