Life sciences sector urges Government to back investment and innovation
The UK life sciences sector has called on Government to maintain policy continuity, improve access to growth capital and accelerate adoption of innovation across the NHS during a BioIndustry Association (BIA) roundtable with Dr Zubir Ahmed MP.
Industry representatives argued that while the UK has a strong scientific base, clinical research infrastructure and biotechnology ecosystem, further action was needed to ensure discoveries are translated into commercial growth and patient benefit.
According to the BIA, the sector employs more than 360,000 people across 7,320 companies, generates annual turnover of more than £146bn and attracts over 40% of European biotech venture capital.
However, participants highlighted access to scale-up finance as one of the sector's most significant barriers.
The discussion also referenced the British Business Bank's Small Business Equity Tracker, which found life sciences ranked third among Industrial Strategy growth sectors for equity investment in 2025 at £2.3bn. Despite this, investment value fell by 23% year-on-year, the largest decline among the sectors analysed.
Industry representatives called for Government to unlock £500m of pension fund investment into life sciences by 2028, prioritise the sector through the British Business Bank and British Growth Partnership, and maintain R&D tax relief.
The roundtable focused too on strengthening the pathway from academic research to commercialisation, with participants urging greater proof-of-concept funding, fewer barriers to university technology transfer and closer collaboration between investors, CROs, CDMOs and research organisations.
Improving the NHS research environment formed another key theme. Participants called for greater use of health data to support clinical research, expansion of the NIHR Industry Hub and improved recruitment to clinical trials.
Manufacturing and patient access were also highlighted, with delegates advocating stronger incentives for medicines manufacturing and closer UK-EU cooperation on batch testing and qualified person release.
Minister Ahmed said the UK's scientific strengths provide an opportunity to drive economic growth.
"The challenge and opportunity now are to turn that passion and hunger for discovery into companies that have the confidence to start, scale and stay in the UK," he said.
Chris Molloy, chief executive of the BIA, said maintaining momentum would be essential.
"BIA is the national champion of our industry. Bringing the sector's voice to bear in the formation of a new administration is vital to maintain its momentum and global competitiveness in a fast-moving world," he said.
The discussion concluded that while the recently published Life Sciences Sector Plan provides a positive framework, long-term delivery and investor confidence will be critical to sustaining UK competitiveness.
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