£180m shot in arm for life sciences sector

NEW measures to boost the life sciences industry, worth an estimated £3 billion annually to the Scottish economy, will be unveiled by David Cameron today.

The Prime Minister will announce a £180 million “catalyst fund” to help turn “bright new ideas” in laboratories into new drugs or technologies that commercial investors are keen to bring to the market.

An “early access scheme” will be designed to give thousands of desperately ill patients faster access to promising, cutting- edge drug treatments. The UK’s medicines watchdog will consider whether some drugs can be prescribed before they are fully licensed.

More than 600 life sciences firms north of the Border are estimated to employ in excess of 32,000 people in an industry worth £3.2bn, fuelled by medical research hubs at the universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen.

Mr Cameron will voice concern that Britain’s place in the global pharmaceutical industry is at a crossroads, with breakthroughs struggling to gain commercial backing. A proud past of scientific breakthroughs, such as the first beta-blockers, pioneered by Scottish scientist Sir James Black, is not enough in an industry changing “month by month”, he will say.

The UK has to innovate “not just to stay in the game, but to lead the game,” he is expected to say. “Not just to hold on to the big companies we’ve got, but to see more businesses setting up here.

“The most crucial, fundamental thing we’re doing is opening up the NHS to new ideas. The end-game is for the NHS to be working hand-in-glove with industry as the fastest adopter of new ideas in the world, to pull innovations through from the labs to the boardrooms to the hospital bed.” The early access scheme would allow patients with life-threatening conditions, such as brain or lung cancer, to get drugs up to a year earlier. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) will decide on the costs and benefits of prescribing them where there are no other treatment options.

Graeme Boyle, of Nexxus, Scotland’s networking body for the life science industry, said: “Encouraging and developing life sciences through the health service is very much something we would support.

“A catalyst fund is important because it helps grow the sector and will boost the number of clinical trials. By having clinical trials happening, you hopefully improve the health outcomes.”

Doug Johnstone, of the Scottish Lifesciences Association, which represents the industry, said the extra investment would be welcome if it encourages business “angels”, people with money for start-up ventures, to invest. But UK-wide it was a small sum compared with the billions invested in the industry.

The Scottish Government is also looking at ways to make the NHS a “driver of innovation”, he said. Scotland had managed to reduce approval times for clinical trials from up to 50 days to closer to 15.

But he added: “You want your drugs to be as safe as possible before they get to patients. We always looking at how it can be improved but safety and efficacy is number one.”

Medical discoveries

• Sir Alexander Fleming, 1881-1955, the Scottish bacteriologist, won the Nobel Prize in 1945 for his discovery of penicillin. Australian scientist Howard Florey and German emigré Ernst Chain shared the prize for developing it so it could be produced as a drug.

• Sir James Black, 1925-2010, with his team at ICI, pioneered a procedure to block the harmful effects of adrenaline on damaged hearts. Beta-blockers have since saved countless lives and improved the quality of life for millions.

• Scotland’s best-known living scientist, Professor Ian Wilmut, 67, was knighted for his revolutionary work in biology. With his team at the Roslin Institute, he unveiled Dolly the sheep, the first mammal created through genetic cloning, in 1997.