Scientists comment on the Government’s Life Sciences Sector Plan.
Prof Mark Stevens FRSB, Chair of Microbial Pathogenesis & Deputy Director – Research, The Roslin Institute & Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, said:
“We recognise the need to replace, reduce or refine the use of animals in research. However, many candidate medicines or medical devices fail in transition from cell- and rodent-based models as they do not adequately replicate our complex physiology and anatomy. The Roslin Institute is pioneering the use of farmed animals as models of human disorders, and can evidence how these often provide more relevant and tractable models of human diseases. Some recent examples include CLN1-edited sheep as a model of infantile dementia, where enzyme replacement and gene therapy trials are ongoing and far better scaled to humans than mice. We also made hACE2-expressing transgenic pigs that are an excellent model of severe COVID-19 and have novel models to study vaccines against tuberculosis to the benefit of cattle and people.
“The use of farmed animals in research is to be weighed in the context of the vast numbers reared for food (the Food & Agriculture Organisation estimated that in 2022, 75Bn chickens, 1.5Bn pigs, 637M sheep and 308M cattle were killed for meat). Such animals often share diseases with humans, including influenza, tuberculosis and cancers, such that research in farmed animals can benefit both their welfare and enhance human health.
“Also worth noting that farmed animals can provide a valuable alternative to the use of non-human primates or companion animals in research, in particular where regulators require that medicines are proven in more than one species (e.g. the US Food & Drug Administration two animal rule).”
Sharon Todd, CEO, Society of Chemical Industry (SCI), said:
“I welcome the Government’s focus on the Life Science sector as a driver of the economy, high-value jobs, and – through the delivery of new medicines and treatments – better outcomes for patients.
“I’m pleased that Government has listened to our calls for making better use of health data, and for streamlining clinical trials and regulation in the UK. Over time these should lead to new, more effective drugs being developed here.
“But I’m concerned that, by failing to address the way in which the NHS pays for medicines, the Government is putting its whole strategy at risk. Unless there is an agreement on drug pricing, SCI fears the UK’s Life Science sector, already struggling to remain globally competitive, will have fewer reasons to invest and innovate here.”
Prof Marina Botto, Director of Bioservices, Imperial College London, said:
“The changes set out in the government’s Life Sciences Sector Plan may go some ways towards reducing the numbers of animals used in research and refining experiments that do require animals. Any additional funding in this area is to be welcomed as it will help to refine experimental models and improve standards of care for animals – both of which will bring benefits for science, and we have seen this first hand at Imperial through commitment to the 3Rs framework and concordat on openness on animal research. Developing new pre-clinical models could help to attract further industry investment in the UK and speed up the discovery and delivery of new therapies.”
Richard Torbett, Chief Executive, ABPI, said:
“This plan recognises both the extraordinary contributions of the life sciences sector to the UK, and the fact that in recent years, it has been struggling to remain competitive and attractive to investment. The solutions proposed are necessary and important, but they are not enough to turn around the UK’s decline.
“The UK must address the core issue holding back the life sciences sector, the long-term disinvestment in innovative medicines that is increasingly preventing NHS patients from accessing medications that are available in other countries.
“For too long, the UK has sought to be the place where innovation happens, but not the place where it is used. Without change, the UK will continue the slow slide down international league tables for research, investment, and the availability of new medicines.
“We are in the final stages of an intensive discussion with the government regarding our sector. We remain committed to working with the government to find a way forward which can get these issues out of the way and allow our sector to deliver on its potential.”
Rebecca Brendall, Head of Clinical Trials Accelerator Platform, Cystic Fibrosis Trust, said:
“We’re pleased to see more investment being made in life sciences, speeding up the development of new treatments through clinical trials and ensuring people have access to the newest health tech.
“Cystic Fibrosis Trust is dedicated to supporting world-class innovative research. Our services, like the UK CF Registry and Clinical Trials Accelerator Platform (CTAP accelerate and support innovators to help us unite to achieve a life unlimited for everyone with CF.”
Prof Penny Ward, Visiting Professor in Pharmaceutical Medicine, King’s College London, said:
“The governments Life Sciences Plan, published today offers many welcome ambitions to enhance the UK life science sector and build on its long history of contribution to the discovery and development of new medicines and devices however it falls short by failing to acknowledge the concerns of the sector, cited by the ABPI today (see https://www.abpi.org.uk/media/news/2025/july/uk-life-sciences-plan-falls-short-says-abpi/). The UK population has long been denied access to innovative medicines which are widely available in other countries, a factor which may be a contributory factor to health outcomes in the UK lagging behind those in other comparable countries. Perhaps the government could consider the landscape not only for enhancing innovation but also stimulating uptake of medicines and devices approved by the MHRA into practice.”
Dr Raghib Ali OBE, CEO and Chief Medical Officer, Our Future Health, said:
“We warmly welcome the government’s strong commitment to UK life sciences in this new Sector Plan and its focus on health innovation and enabling world class R&D. We are delighted by the announcement of up to £354 million additional funding for Our Future Health and look forward to working with our partners across the sector to achieve the ambitions set out in the plan. Millions of people across the UK are already taking part in Our Future Health – the world’s largest health research resource of its kind – and this new investment will allow us to expand the programme further, helping the NHS and life sciences sector accelerate the shift from reactive care to prevention and earlier detection. By unlocking new scientific breakthroughs, we aim to help more people live longer, healthier lives.”
Prof Richard Dobson, Head of Biostatistics & Health Informatics, King’s College London:
“This country has amazing data assets collected through the NHS that could turbo charge the life sciences in the UK bringing benefit to patients. So far we have not taken advantage of the opportunity for a number of reasons. Data is difficult to access, disconnected and not standardised; we have an approach to governance which is prohibitively slow, despite patient preferences. I really hope this will help change things.”
An AstraZeneca spokesperson, said:
“The government is right to prioritise the life sciences sector which can be a driving force for public health and growth. We look forward to working with the government to ensure patients in the UK benefit from the discovery efforts of the life sciences sector.”
An RSB (Royal Society of Biology) spokesperson, said:
“The RSB welcomes the publication of the Life Sciences Sector Plan which looks to boost the potential of one of the UK’s key sectors to innovate, drive economic growth and improve people’s health. Measures announced aim to provide better patient outcomes to help tackle health inequalities, the complex care needs of an ageing population and the emergence and spread of infectious diseases. We particularly welcome the focus on long term funding for discovery science, sector skills needs assessment and promises to deliver support at regional level, alongside support to reach net zero goals. Tackling systemic challenges requires systemic connectivity, delivering better health outcomes needs engagement with expert communities working across sectors, from nature to nutrition, and the RSB stands ready to assist, as the voice of the biosciences.”
Prof Richard Emsley, NIHR Research Professor and Academic Director of Clinical Trials, King’s College London, said:
“The proposals to improve the speed and capacity for commercial trials are certainly needed and welcome. If successful, they could make a real difference to testing new treatments quicker and if they are shown to work getting these into frontline care at the earliest opportunity. We also have a large and thriving academic trials sector in the UK who will benefit from initiatives such as the reduced set-up time for trials, improving SME collaborations and the government investment in health research data assets.”
Dr Wahbi El-Bouri, Senior Lecturer in Digital Twins and In Silico Trials, University of Liverpool, said:
“It was refreshing to read the UK government’s Life Sciences Sector Plan and its clear focus on prevention of illness. There is now a clear shift toward prioritising prevention in healthcare, as reflected in the NHS 10-year plan—something medical researchers have been urging for quite some time. This shift is incredibly important in getting people to live healthier lives as they age, reducing the burden of chronic illness on already strained health and social care systems. Such a shift will require investment in wearable technologies to allow us to collect data on healthy individuals who normally would not have contact with NHS services. As we move to personalised medicine, we will also see a growth in computational and AI-driven models of individuals, or ‘digital twins’, that will enable the goal of early detection, prevention, and personalised treatment.”
Prof Peter Bannister, life sciences expert, Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), said:
“The plan includes assurances that R&D funding will be enhanced, although the ambition to leverage substantial private investment will rely on investors being equally convinced and the growth target of securing one major strategic partnership per year will require clarification as to what constitutes “major”. The commitment to increase support for the regulator so that it can respond to the opportunities presented by emerging technologies – including artificial intelligence – while maintaining patient safety is very welcome, as is the proposed closer alignment between product (MHRA) and clinical (NICE) regulators where there is currently a slow, uncertain process before adoption at scale by the NHS. The inclusion of a clear roadmap with delivery dates is a positive aspect that will help the sector and public alike to measure successful delivery.”
Prof Neena Modi MB ChB MD FRCP FRCPCH FFPM FMedSci, Professor of Neonatal Medicine, Imperial College London, said:
“The £600m investment in health data, cutting red tape so patients can join clinical trials, and focus on working with life-sciences industries, are all welcome. However, several very longstanding practical challenges that have adversely affected the ambitions of the UK in respect of life sciences research and development, will also need to be tackled for genuine progress to be made.
“These include the very longstanding divide in respect of regulation, governance, and technical processes between health data managed within NHS and University environments. A further issue is the, also very longstanding, disadvantage experienced by some patient groups; thus for example only two medicines have ever been developed specifically for sick newborn babies and over 90% of medicines used in neonatal care are prescribed off-label or off-license which means that efficacy, safety, and dosage are uncertain. As newborn health also initiates trajectories to adult health this has serious adverse consequences for population wellbeing. Details of the extent to which newborns have missed out on life-science developments are described in detail in the recent Lancet CAH Commission on the Future of Neonatology (The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health Commission on the future of neonatology De Luca, Modi, Davis, et al. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, Volume 9, Issue 8, 578 – 612). These practical challenges are resolvable but require a deep understanding of historic road-blocks, attention to detail, and commitment.”
Dr Luc Rocher, Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, said:
“To speed up access to health data, the plan calls for new revamped laws to allow the NHS to more easily share sensitive but “de-identified” patient data. De-identification is a controversial approach with serious privacy limitations. Attempts to broadly share and sell de-identified NHS data with private companies have caused numerous backslashes over the years and undermine trust in our research and development ecosystem. Instead, the UK needs strategic investment for the NHS to develop privacy preserving platforms at scale with robust security measures.”
Lawrence Tallon, MHRA Chief Executive, said:
“I welcome the publication of the Life Sciences Sector Plan and fully support its ambition to make the UK a global leader in life sciences and a country where innovation delivers for everyone.
“It’s great to see the MHRA is recognised as a pivotal partner in delivering the plan’s vision – by supporting innovation, protecting public health, and making the UK a global destination for innovators to research, develop and launch cutting-edge medical products.
“Working with our partners across the sector, we will continue to enable safe and effective innovation that benefits patients, the public, and the economy.”
David Seymour, Director of Data Partnerships, Health Data Research UK, said:
“The ambition in these new government plans is much needed, but it is colliding with a system full of potholes that disrupt, delay and damage vital health data research.
“Our life sciences sector holds the key to faster discovery of treatments, better patient care, prevention of diseases and the essential economic growth required to fund a revitalised NHS. Yet in access to health data, researchers and innovators are gridlocked by legal, governance and contractual complexity, coupled with a lack of people with the capacity and authority to unblock barriers and make decisions. This is the harsh reality that undermines our boldest plans.
“While major investments in the genomics revolution and Health Data Research Service are welcome, there is a real danger of ‘planning blight,’ where the focus on designing the future system stops us from improving the performance of the current system. The most radical thing we can do is get the basics right. This means a relentless focus on maximising the value of our existing world-class data assets – the likes of the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) research service, UK BioBank, Genomics England and Our Future Health – enriched through data linkage and novel data collection.
“Fixing today’s ‘potholes’ isn’t a distraction from the long-term vision – it’s the only way to make it happen. Anything less holds back the UK’s global competitiveness and fails patients and the public.”
Prof Bryan Williams, Chief Scientific and Medical Officer, British Heart Foundation, said:
“A thriving life science sector is key to unlocking the next generation of treatments and cures for some of the UK’s biggest killers, including cardiovascular disease. It’s great to see the Government recognising this in today’s plan, which will help researchers grasp this moment of immense scientific opportunity.
“We welcome the pledge to continue investing in science which drives life-changing discoveries in medicine, whilst ensuring that patients benefit quickly from those discoveries. The commitment to shift health research funding towards making advances in prevention is also very encouraging.
“As key funders of UK research and development, charities like the British Heart Foundation are vital in helping to achieve this plan’s vision. We look forward to working in close partnership with Government and the wider sector to fully deliver the improvements needed.”
Prof Patrick Chinnery, Executive Chair, Medical Research Council, said:
“The new Life Sciences Sector Plan sets out a bold vision to transform how one of the UK’s most dynamic and globally competitive sectors delivers for our economy and for people around the world.
“The Medical Research Council is committed to playing a central role in realising this vision by accelerating the translation of curiosity-driven research into innovations that support disease prevention, earlier diagnosis and better treatments.
“In partnership with researchers, charities and industry, we will help more people live healthier, more productive lives, and attract further investment to strengthen the UK’s life sciences sector.”
Nicola Perrin MBE, Chief Executive, Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC), said:
“We’re pleased to see life sciences recognised as a priority sector for the UK. This is a triple win for the economy, for the NHS and for patients. It will benefit people across the country and unlock new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat disease.
“We welcome the positioning of research at the heart of the Life Sciences Sector Plan, from the earliest stages of discovery science and beyond. We also welcome the focus on ensuring that the NHS embraces new discoveries and innovations – these will only have an impact if they get to patients quickly and effectively.
“It’s reassuring to see a clear focus on implementation and accountability in the plan. This will help to ensure urgent action and real change. Medical research charities must be key delivery partners – they support R&D that focuses on patients, addresses areas of unmet need and accelerates impact.”
Dr Iain Foulkes, Executive Director of Research and Innovation, Cancer Research UK, said:
“The Life Sciences Sector Plan sets out promising ambitions to make the UK a global leader in science, but it doesn’t do enough to tackle the challenges holding back clinical research.
“We need government, industry and charities to work together so that people get faster access to the most promising new cancer treatments.
“The Plan rightly highlights the delays in setting up commercial clinical trials in the UK, but it overlooks the fact that non-commercial trials – often led by charities or the NHS – are facing the same issues. These trials are being held back by slow and complicated processes, excessive red tape, and a lack of capacity across the system.
“Government action is needed to strip away these barriers and build more time for research in NHS staff contracts.”
Prof Andrew Morris CBE FRSE PMedSci, President, Academy of Medical Sciences, said:
“The Government’s Life Sciences Sector Plan delivers a robust framework that industry, academia and the NHS have long needed to help unlock the full potential of one of the UK’s most important sectors.
“As we highlighted in our Future-proofing UK Health Research report, a coordinated and people-centred approach is essential to secure a sustainable future for life sciences research and deliver maximum health benefits for people everywhere. With over £2bn of funding and clear accountability mechanisms, this plan provides actionable commitments that can drive economic growth, improve the UK’s standing on a world stage and transform health equity.
“The six headline actions align closely with priorities the Academy of Medical Sciences has consistently championed, including cutting clinical trials times, strengthening health data infrastructure, and streamlining regulation and procurement. These measures have the potential to transform how we develop and deploy new treatments, placing people at the heart of the UK health research system whilst maximising discovery science and the research potential of the NHS.
“Recognising that the NHS must become a thriving site of research is key to improving health and prosperity in the UK and driving health outcomes globally. The plan’s effectiveness will depend on sustained coordination across all sectors and funders, and engagement with patients and the public, to enable the UK’s life sciences sector to flourish and deliver health benefits for people everywhere.”
Plan: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/687653fb55c4bd0544dcaeb1/Life_Sciences_Sector_Plan.pdf; https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/life-sciences-sector-plan
Press release: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/life-sciences-sector-plan-to-grow-economy-and-transform-nhs
Declared interests
The nature of this story means everyone quoted above could be perceived to have a stake in it. As such, our policy is not to ask for interests to be declared – instead, they are implicit in each person’s affiliation.
Prof Penny Ward: “No COIs. I am semi-retired, but I am owner/Director of PWG Consulting (Biopharma) Ltd a consulting firm advising companies on drug and device development and have over 40 years of experience in the development of innovative medicines and devices used worldwide for the treatment/prevention of infectious diseases, osteoporosis, inflammatory disorders and cancer in large pharma and small biotech companies. I am also a Visiting Professor in Pharmaceutical Medicine at Kings College, London.”
Prof Richard Dobson: “Director of Cogstack ltd and Onsentia ltd.”
Prof Richard Emsley: “I don’t think I have any CoIs to declare specifically related to the Sector Plan.
I receive grant funding related to clinical trials from NIHR, UKRI and The Wellcome Trust via payments to King’s College London.”
Dr Wahbi El-Bouri: “Received research funding from UKRI, Horizon Europe, and the Royal Society; work as an advisor for a startup developing biosensing technology (Performr).”
Prof Peter Bannister: “COI to include Managing Director Romilly Life Sciences (delivery partner with MHRA-sponsored CERSI-AI and CEiRSI regulatory innovation centres, author of Imperial College/ ABHI HealthTech Sector Strategy) and Non-exec Director, Life Sciences Hub Wales.”
Prof Neena Modi: “I am the lead for the UK National Neonatal Research Database (https://www.imperial.ac.uk/neonatal-data-analysis-unit/neonatal-data-analysis-unit/utilising-the-nnrd/) and an author of the cited Lancet paper).”
Dr Luc Rocher: “Luc Rocher declares no conflicts of interest.”