ABPI response to the mini-Budget

The Chancellor has set out the Government's plan for growth, aimed at releasing the huge potential in the British economy by tackling high energy costs and inflation and delivering higher productivity.

Responding to the plan, ABPI Chief Executive Richard Torbett said: 

“Today’s announcements from the Chancellor have set a clear direction for the Government’s plans for growth.

“He is right that the life sciences sector has ‘immense global presence’ in the UK and we share the belief that this sector can help drive the economic growth the Government is to achieve.

“But right now, there are real signs that the UK is slipping behind our global competitors in the race to become a life sciences superpower.

"Alongside the announcements we have seen today, we need the Government to have a laser-like focus on how we can make the UK the destination of choice for pharmaceutical industry investment. 

“Our latest research shows that if we get this right, tens of billions of pounds of growth is possible and we are committed to working with the Chancellor and his Cabinet colleagues to unlock this.”

Background

The ABPI’s recent report by PWC quantifies the size of the prize across the UK if we could emulate the successes of leading EU countries in life sciences:

Creating the right business environment: Increasing the UK’s percentage of global pharmaceutical exports from 4.3% to 8.3%, in line with Belgium or Ireland would bring £16.3 billion in GDP and create 85,000 new jobs.

Building on our science and clinical research infrastructure: By raising pharmaceutical research and development investment in the UK to a per-capita level comparable with that of the US, an extra £7.2 billion investment would be channelled to the sector each year. That adds up to more than £68 billion over the next 30 years.

Tackling future healthcare challenges: By improving performance we could cut the overall health burden by 40%. By emulating countries including Singapore, Norway and Switzerland across disease areas including dementia, cancers, cardiovascular disease and respiratory disease alone, we could reduce the UK’s 6.5 million DALYs - Disability-adjusted life years, which measure disease years lost due to ill-health, disability, or early death - to 2.6 million DALYs.

Supporting access and uptake environment: Reducing variation in how quickly medicines are available on the NHS so that all are available within three months of licensing would bring us in line with leading countries like Germany and Denmark. For patients with conditions like cancer or rare diseases, this could be lifesaving.