Innovation key for boosting UK biopharma competitiveness

New recommendations to boost the competitiveness in UK biopharma and Medtech sectors have been published by Imperial College London.

The ‘Sectoral Systems of Innovation and the UK’s Competitiveness’ reports assess the value-added per capita of each sector and how they compare internationally.

Technological solutions and policy recommendations for government have been identified as a way to help make sectors such as biopharma and Medtech more innovative and increase their value added.

Specifically, the reports “provide crucial insights into the needs, challenges and opportunities of these important sectors and the scope for industry, academia and government to work together to boost their productivity and drive economic growth,” according to Professor Francisco Veloso, Dean of Imperial College Business School.

The Imperial College London report highlighted the UK is faced with a dramatic slowdown in its rate of economic growth. This is largely due to the declining rate of innovation and competitiveness of key sectors of the economy.

Policymakers are increasingly interested in sector-based policies to solve the UK’s own productivity problem. This kind of targeted support in areas such as R&D, skills and finance requires a clear understanding of what is going on in specific industries and what is needed to increase their value added per capita.

Biopharma struggling to find talent with adequate digital skills

Common themes identified across the reports for increasing competitiveness were:

• Create more innovative, collaborative and flexible regulatory environments that can align with key markets such as the EU and US where beneficial
• Anticipate the opportunities and challenges posed by rapid advances in digital technologies
• Raise innovation productivity through targeted policy interventions and, where appropriate, the adoption of new business models.

For the UK to compete globally, accelerating these industries “needs to be a priority” and must be given “targeted policy and support” stated Professor Veloso.

UK biopharma

While the UK’s biopharma sector contributes a GVA of around £15 billion annually to the UK economy and 400,000 jobs, there are concerns about sustaining the sector’s global competitiveness.

Despite a strong research base and an emerging data science sector targeting pharma R&D, the UK has not been successful in growing large UK biopharma companies. The sector is dominated by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that are frequently acquired by companies from the US or elsewhere before they scale-up.

Pharmaceutical companies around the world are experiencing pressures associated with the declining productivity of drug R&D and tightening regulations, the report emphasised.

One main challenge is a decrease in NHS-conduced clinical trials, according to the authors. This raises concerns about the attractiveness of the UK for launching new drugs, regulatory divergence between the UK and other major markets, slower access to newly approved medicines compared to some other countries, and the erosion of the drugs manufacturing sector.

A solution proposed in the report was for policymakers to focus on regulatory clarity and harmonisation, particularly with the EU, NHS procurement practices and fostering the emerging data science sector. Also the authors emphasised that how to aid the high-value drugs manufacturing sector.

Additionally, to support the UK biopharma sector, the report called for policymakers to improve financial support for the scale-up of promising small companies or risk early technologies and IP being sold prematurely to foreign companies.

Medtech

The Imperial College London report showed that the MedTech sector is displaying promising growth. Despite being primarily formed of SMEs, the sector contributes £13.5 billion to the UK economy (GVA), with a GVA/employee of £100k. Sector GVA had a 19 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2016-2020. The sector is fed by a strong contribution from university spinouts.

Missed opportunities that could further enhance the sector’s performance were also noted in the Imperial College London report. A key concern highlighted was the uncertainty surrounding the UK’s post-Brexit medical device regulation. This includes challenges associated with EU regulatory practices and expertise for processing regulatory applications.

Recommendations

Improving the regulatory environment by finalising the post-Brexit transition for the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and clarifying the fast-tracked route of devices approved by the US, EU, and Japan, were suggested in the report.

Other recommendations also included greater MedTech specific funding, the establishment of courses that include regulatory training in relevant technology areas, and the improvement of technology transfer policies and procedures.

Overall, the report stated that a goal for government must be an integrated national life sciences R&D ecosystem. It should support drug discovery, early clinical development, and uptake into healthcare, reducing R&D development cycles and costs; therefore producing more attractive investment opportunities.