The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) has welcomed Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement for recognising the vital role UK life sciences will play in delivering innovation-led growth. 

The UK life sciences industry is uniquely well-placed to deliver the innovation-led growth the UK needs. To realise this opportunity, the government must continue striving to make the UK a more competitive and attractive place to invest. Richard Torbett, Chief Executive, ABPI

Commenting on the Autumn Statement, Richard Torbett, Chief Executive at the ABPI said: 

“The Chancellor has delivered a pragmatic Autumn Statement, taking some tough decisions while recognising the vital role innovation must play in setting the economy back on the path to recovery. 

“The decision to protect spending on research and development, as well as increasing R&D expenditure credit from 13% to 20% are both essential to boosting the UK’s share of global pharmaceutical R&D spending and investment. 

“The UK life sciences industry is uniquely well-placed to deliver the innovation-led growth the UK needs. To realise this opportunity, the government must continue striving to make the UK a more competitive and attractive place to invest. This journey is already well underway, but we need to raise our ambitions even further if we are to truly make the UK a life science superpower.” 

Fact box:

•    Life sciences as a whole contributes around £37bn a year to UK GDP, and over 580,000 jobs to the UK economy. [1] 
•    The pharmaceutical industry invests more than any other sector in UK R&D, investing £5bn per year – or around 18% of all commercial R&D in the UK economy. [2] 
•    The UK’s share of global pharmaceutical R&D has been declining over the past decade, falling from 7.7 per cent in 2012 to 4.2 per cent in 2020. [1]
•    The number of Phase III industry trials initiated in the UK – those with medicines closest to market – fell by 48% between 2017 and 2021. [3] 
•    Delivering the Life Sciences Vision in full can deliver £68 billion in additional GDP over 30 years, owing to increased R&D investment alone. [1]