Exclusive: First ever minister for Life Sciences speaks to MPN

Life science sector key to modernising our health system, life science minister tells MPN

When David Cameron created the role of minister for life sciences in his cabinet reshuffle, the MP that was given this new role was George Freeman. Designed to fast-track the UK’s leadership in medicine, the job has been hailed as perfect for Freeman, whose background is the life science and healthcare sector. He spoke to MPN about his plans for the role and the importance of life sciences in the UK economy

LR: You were appointed life science minister earlier this year – how important is the life science sector to the UK economy?

GF: Life sciences are playing a major role in the UK economy. Our Strategy for UK Life Sciences has seen some £3.5 billion private sector investment attracted into in the UK since it was launched in December 2011 creating over 11,000 jobs. As well as providing skilled employment, the life sciences sector is a great example of how we successfully exploit our investment in science and basic research for the benefit of the economy, and of NHS patients.

We are constantly working to attract new investment, for example last month MSD announced plans to invest a minimum of £42 million in UK life sciences over the next three years, and BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), announced an investment of £21 million to build a next generation blood separation tube production line in Plymouth.

There are great investment opportunities for US businesses in the UK and I was recently in the US to bang the drum for international investment in Britain’s thriving life sciences industry.

I want to make it clear that the UK is open for business. Through our UK Trade and Investment and Healthcare UK, we are actively pursuing inward investment and promote opportunities for UK life sciences companies abroad.

LR: What are the main aims of your role?

GF: The creation of the first ever UK minister for life sciences demonstrates the prime minister’s personal, and the government’s wider, commitment to the life science sector as a key part of the UK’s wider knowledge economy.

My central mission is to accelerate the discovery, design and adoption of new innovative technologies in the NHS, making the UK the best place in the world to discover and design 21st-century health care technologies and to help get more health from every pound we spend in the health service.

I believe that breakthroughs in genomics and clinical informatics mean that we are at the dawn of an exciting new era of targeted and, ultimately, more personalised medicine. The pace of technological progress is driving rapid convergence of drugs, devices and diagnostic technologies, driving new opportunities, business models, and meeting new challenges for our healthcare system.

We need to take time and risk out of the drug and device development pathway which is why I have recently announced a major review to consider the pathway to how patients get safe and speedy access to cutting edge treatments – both medicines and medical technologies. The review will consider how to speed up patient access to cost-effective and innovative medicines and technology.

I want us to look at how we could shave years off of the development of new medicines, devices and diagnostics  By unlocking the power of our NHS and out £1 billion per annum National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) platform, to be a test-bed for real time assessment of impact for patients.

LR: There is much talk of a ‘life science hub’ in the UK. How far advanced is this concept and where do you see it heading?

GF: This is an exciting time for life science companies in the UK. New models of drug development, digitisation, companion diagnostics, and over the longer term, the possibility of introducing ‘payment for outcomes’, all create huge opportunities for this sector. The government absolutely recognises the value of this sector, both for patients and for economic growth.

We see a vibrant life science sector a key to both modernising our health system and generating the profit we need to pay for it. We have put a number of opportunities in place for small and medium sized businesses to finance new life science solutions. These include the ground-breaking Biomedical Catalyst, which provides funding for innovative small-and medium-sized companies and academics to develop solutions to healthcare challenges. So far, 250 awards have been made, totalling more £200 million, matched by an additional £100 million of private investment.

In medicines, manufacturing companies are benefiting from our investments in underpinning science. This includes EPSRC’s Innovative Manufacturing centres in Strathclyde, University College London and Loughborough.  The High Value Manufacturing programme managed by Innovate UK is also supporting two Catapult Centres in Cell Therapy, Biologics, Precision Medicines and as announced in the budget a National Formulation Centre. These centres are working with business to solve manufacturing challenges. Our £55 million investment in a Cell and Gene Therapy Manufacturing Centre will also attract private sector investments in an entirely new advanced therapeutics industry in the UK.

Industry itself has established a Medicines Manufacturing Industry Partnership (MMIP) and this is bringing the biopharmaceutical industry together to create an attractive and innovation-driven environment to ensure UK competitiveness in medicines manufacturing.

In our three great clusters of London, Oxford and Cambridge, the UK remains a world class, life science cluster.

LR: The UK economy is looking positive, particularly for the life science sector – what message would you like to give those working in this industry for 2015?

GF: If we are to achieve our ambitions for the UK life sciences to be the best in the world, we must continue to build a life sciences ecosystem that capitalises on our existing strengths and partnerships between universities, the wider research base, businesses and better investment of our research cluster with our health system.

We need to continue to attract, develop and reward the best talent so that our highly skilled researchers, clinicians and technicians of the future are able to work collaboratively across traditional boundaries. And we need to overcome the barriers and create incentives that allow discoveries to be translated into commercial opportunities and into real benefits for patient’s future.

That is what we are doing through our Strategy for UK Life Sciences and the new directorate of Innovation, Growth and Technology we have created in the Department of Health.