The Government’s £650m ‘Life Sci for Growth’ package

Today, 26 May 2023, UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt MP brought forward a huge package of life sciences announcements, revealing a £650m war chest to fire up the Life Sciences sector. The ambitious Life Sci for Growth package seeks to support economic growth through several policies across manufacturing, skills, and infrastructure.

Faster access to new medicines for patients has been identified as a key target area, with £121m to rapidly improve the UK commercial clinical trials (CCT) landscape, based on Lord James O’Shaughnessy’s (Senior Partner at Newmarket) new review into the current state of commercial clinical trials in the UK, which was also published today. This review sought to offer recommendations on how CCTs can help the Life Sciences sector unlock UK growth and investment opportunities and advise on how to resolve key challenges in conducting CCTs in the UK.

Several other areas make up the £650m package, which combines old and new money, including:

• Up to £48m of new funding for scientific innovation to prepare for any future health emergencies,
• £154m to increase the capacity of the UK’s biological data bank to help drive scientific discoveries, and
• Up to £250m to incentivise pensions schemes to invest in promising science and technology firms.

Also identified are plans to boost innovation through Health Innovation Networks, which bring together the NHS, local communities, charities, academia, and industry to share best practice. Finally, there are also plans to improve connections between UK science powerhouses Oxford and Cambridge and changes to planning rules to free-up lab space.

Given the size of the UK life sciences sector – worth over £94bn in 2021 – growth here has the potential to drive wider economic prospects and associated benefits for the UK health system.

For further information and analysis on the Government’s life sciences package please contact us at info@newmarket-strategy.com for a no-obligation, confidential conversation.