Following the drawn-out negotiations over a support package for UK automotive and the much-publicised bail-out of the banks, the pharmaceutical industry becomes the next in line to offer its wounds to the state for ministerial dressing.
Following the drawn-out negotiations over a support package for UK automotive and the much-publicised bail-out of the banks, the pharmaceutical industry becomes the next in line to offer its wounds to the state for ministerial dressing.
Accounting for 67,000 employees in Britain, the pharmaceutical industry is worth around £8 billion per year to gross domestic product.
But the UK pharmaceutical industry is under threat from competitors around the world and industry insiders want government help to ensure Britain remains a leading force within in.
The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) took its case to Downing Street yesterday, for a meeting with the PM. Dr Richard Barker, Director-General of the ABPI, pointed out that UK scientists have discovered one in five of the world’s top 100 medicines and he highlighted breakthroughs to treat diseases like cancer, Alzheimer’s, obesity and rheumatoid arthritis.
“But the industry in the UK is facing increased competition from other parts of the world and we need to redouble our efforts to stay in the research ‘Premier league’,” he said.
“There is an opportunity to turn the NHS into a laboratory for healthcare innovation but if that is to happen the UK Government needs to make the UK a more attractive place to discover medicines, make NICE a champion of innovation and speed up patients’ access to new medicines.”
ABPI’s recommendations that surfaced at the meeting were:
• Ensuring pioneering technologies are used to benefit NHS patients by boosting clinical trial participation by NHS Trusts
• Making sure new medicines reach the NHS quickly by empowering the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) to become a champion of innovation
• Setting firm goals to take the UK from bottom quartile of European countries for the uptake of new medicines to the top
• Identifying and addressing critical skills gaps especially in Higher Education to make the UK a future leader in the global knowledge economy
• Implementing a favourable rate of taxation for intellectual property income to make the UK more viable for manufacturing investment
One initiative to have emerged already is the appointment of Alan Johnson and Peter Mandelson to the Ministerial Industry Strategy Group (MISG) with Johnson having been made chairman. Government presence in the group has historically been allocated for junior ministers. MISG will return to government in autumn with its report on the industry and further proposals for action.
Gordon Brown said the government is fully sympathetic to the needs of the industry. “This is one of the great industries for the future. We need a highly innovative industry, and we need to make sure that medical advances are possible,” he said.
