A new dawn has broken (has it not?)

A bold new opportunity to address research challenges

So, now we have a new Government, there is a new opportunity to address the challenges we have created for international collaboration in pharmaceutical research.

Brexit kicked our amazing life sciences industry back decades as we lost our international standing as an intellectual powerhouse.

We used to attract, educate and support the most brilliant scientists to the UK. We did so, in large part, because we hosted hubs for international projects.

In leaving our European Union so many of those ties have been broken. They can be repaired with a huge mandate awarded to the Labour Party.

Can you say in one sentence or less why will we be able to lead life science research in the future? Collaboration and Education.

Throttling the human capital of our nation’s institutions by making the pathway for free movement of people more difficult we have cut the throat of the pharma industry.

Through a new approach to immigration our most brilliant families of thinkers will have a secure home on these islands.

The Labour Government is committed to an easier process for people to come and work in the UK from abroad, as demonstrated by the Prime Minister’s negotiations with Pedro Sanchez of Spain opening the door to a youth free movement deal. 

Medicine authorisations for products that the EU approves centrally are slower in Great Britain than they would be if it were still a member state.

From December 2022 to December 2023, four drugs authorised by the European Commission had been approved faster in the UK than in the EU; 56 had been approved later, and 8 had not been approved at all as of March 2024.

We founded the EMA and we will once again stand by its founding principles, rather than copy the lobby-driven dogmas of the FDA. We are likely to see engagement in other regulatory frameworks governing regulation and management of clinical trials and new agents.

Brexit has contributed to difficulties in drug availability in the UK by lowering the value of sterling and removing the UK from EU supply chains. It poses the

additional risk of being left out of EU measures to respond by shifting

medicines between member states. As transport of pharmaceutical agents between the UK and continental Europe becomes easier with a friendlier UK Government, we can at least start to get drugs on our shelves and share those we make with others beyond our borders.

We can found new universities focussed on life sciences and wrap them up with enterprise and profitable activity. They will be engines for social good and drivers for the new Government’s levelling-up agenda.

A renewal in higher education will be a core plank to delivering a life sciences renaissance in our country.

In the past we have shown ourselves to be industrious, outward looking and forward thinking in science and engineering. We can be again. The geeks will inherit the earth, we are playing by the new rules. 

Dr Joe Taylor is Senior Advisor at Candesic and Dr Leonid Shapiro is Managing Partner at Candesic