Professor David Webb, President of the British Pharmacological Society, said:
It is good to see today’s launch of the new Industrial Strategy leading with a big boost to the life sciences sector, through the creation of nearly 1,000 jobs. The subsequent boost to research and development will be welcome news to all in the sector, and to the patients and members of the public who should ultimately benefit from this research.
We await the release of the full Industrial Strategy. In advance of that, it is worth noting that the foundation focus on ‘people’ in that new strategy will be critical in the view of the British Pharmacological Society. There is a significant amount of work needed to build our skills base and keep the UK’s strong position in R&D. Equally, such developments cannot happen in a vacuum, and we will be interested to know how today’s news will interact with issues associated with the UK’s decision to leave the EU - most notably around access to the single market, the free movement of skilled labour, and our ability to partner with the EMA in the regulation of new medicines.
The British Pharmacological Society can leverage expertise to develop and support the skills in pharmacology and clinical pharmacology that are needed to discover new medicines - and we hope to do so within a framework for excellence that must be provided by the new industrial strategy.