The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Life Sciences has been relaunched to assist the government in exploring the challenges and opportunities facing the sector.
APPG Life Sciences
Pictured left-to-right: Jerome Mayhew MP, Lord Mair, Darren Stenlake (Sysmex), Chris Green MP, Charlotte Casebourne (Theolytics), Haseeb Ahmad (ABPI) and Steve McCabe MP.
The first meeting for the group was held earlier this week and was attended by MPs, members of the House of Lords as well as experts from biotech SME Theolytics, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) and Sysmex UK.
During the meeting, the APPG considered how parliamentarians, government and industry can work together to ensure that patients and the economy continue to benefit from innovation in the UK life sciences sector.
Commenting on the relaunch, Daniel Zeichner, MP for Cambridge and Chair of the APPG said: “I am delighted to continue as Chair of this APPG which will have a key role in highlighting to parliamentarians the valuable contribution our world-leading life sciences sector makes to the nation’s health and wealth.
"Over the next year, the APPG will work with my colleagues on both sides of the House to consider how we can best ensure that we enable the sector to bring exciting new technologies and treatments to our constituents, while also boosting the UK economy.”
Chris Green, MP for Bolton West and Vice-Chair of the APPG said: “The life sciences sector employs over 250,000 people in the UK and two-thirds of these highly skilled jobs are outside the South East. The life sciences sector will have a crucial role in supporting the Government’s ambitions to unleash British science and increase investment in R&D.
"As vice-chair of the APPG, I look forward to enabling parliamentarians and industry to work together to achieve our common goal of making the UK a global hub for life sciences.”
Anthony Browne, MP for South Cambridgeshire and vice-chair of the APPG added: “The UK has an incredible legacy in life sciences and has a strong global competitive advantage.
"I’m excited about taking up this role as vice-chair of the APPG to support UK life sciences entrepreneurs all around the country who are working hard to harness the power of biology to improve patients’ lives and deliver cost-savings for our NHS.”