The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all of us on an unprecedented scale, revealing much about what makes us vulnerable as a society. However, it has also shown us that we have strengths we can lean on in challenging times. The UK’s life sciences sector is one such strength. It is an enormous asset to the country and testament to the power of public and private sector partnership, one we should protect and build for the future.
To realise this ambition, building on the UK’s heritage and expertise in Research and Development (R&D) is vital. The pharmaceutical sector invested £4.3bn in R&D in 2019, more than any other sector in the UK, and employs 63,000 skilled professionals.[1] We can only continue to deliver cutting-edge innovation and treatments that benefits patients if we continue to invest.
In 1998, Dr Geoffrey Guy and Dr Brian Whittle, in direct response to the unmet medical need of a group of British patients, took up the challenge of creating a tried and tested, regulatory approved modern medicine from the cannabis plant. Guy and Whittle’s willingness to invest in research and development drove them to form GW Pharmaceuticals (GW).
Founded over two decades ago in response to significant unmet patient need, patients remain our key focus and improving their quality of life, our motivation. GW is a British company which develops and manufactures all of its medicines here in the UK. In the last five years we have invested around £470m in R&D and £114m in manufacturing facilities, alongside employing more than 600 highly skilled people across the country.[2] GW is a UK plc that has built-up major in-house cutting-edge formulation, processing and manufacturing expertise, in addition to high-tech, high-value manufacturing lines. Our latest new building at Kent Science Park will be the largest GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) facility for the development of regulatory approved cannabis-based medicines anywhere in the world.
As global leaders in our industry, we know the world does not stand still, and neither should UK research and innovation. The strength of the UK life sciences industry is the result of support from successive governments across the decades, and industry and government must work together to build on this for the future.
GW will continue to invest in R&D, infrastructure and manufacturing in the UK, but it is vitally important that the environment for highly skilled manufacturing and R&D jobs is not taken for granted. The Government acknowledged this within the 2020 Spending Review, setting out its plans to make the UK a “scientific superpower” through a commitment to invest £15bn in R&D during the coming year.[3]
However, this is not just about R&D. We need to continually foster a research environment that enables new skills, new ideas and new advances in treatments. This requires a commitment from government to make the most of international scientific expertise, and better regulation that fosters innovation and puts patient safety at its core.
One part of that is ensuring continued access to the best international talent. We hope that initiatives such as the Government’s Office for Talent ensure that the most promising researchers and innovators are attracted to the UK. This should also focus on reducing barriers to international collaboration and talent mobility, and we were pleased to see the Government’s renewed commitment to this within the Spending Review.
Another key part of building an even stronger UK life science sector is ensuring the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which regulates our medicines in the UK, enhances the UK’s reputation as one of the best places in the world for patients to gain access to cutting edge medicines.
Countries across the world look to the UK as the flag bearer for standards, from law to medicines development and regulation. The UK is internationally renowned for its ‘gold standard’ approach to assessing pharmaceutical medicines. We have left the EU, and the UK is now on the cusp of exiting the transition period. Bold thinking about how to maintain our high standards, whilst driving more research into harnessing the latest scientific and technological discoveries will ensure the UK continues to be a trailblazer in life sciences.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also demonstrated the ability of the UK to deliver clinical research at pace and scale, with agility and creativity. The MHRA has responded admirably to these challenges during the pandemic, delivering a streamlined approvals and guidance process to ensure rapid deployment of new vaccines and treatments that do not compromise on patient safety. In December, the UK became the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, a truly life-changing achievement by the scientific community.
To ensure we keep finding new ways to help patients, the UK must continually strive to remain at the forefront of innovation in medicines regulation. GW believes there is scope to instil even more innovation in medicines regulation, for example in areas such as novel clinical trial design which could help bring forward new treatments for patients suffering from a rare disease.
However, innovation cannot come at the expense of patient safety. GW is proof that the patient-driven approach to innovation works. For the past twenty years, GW has worked within the regulatory regime to establish a world-leading position in cannabinoid science and medicine. Our success demonstrates that the existing framework provides the best foundation for continued innovation, whilst ensuring patients access to the well tolerated, effective medicines of the future.
Innovation is the essence of the life sciences sector. The UK can lead in investment, job creation and patient outcomes and showcase our expertise to the world. To do so, the wheel does not need reinventing, it needs refining. We stand ready to work with the Government to achieve this.
[1] The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, 2020 Manifesto for Medicine: https://www.abpi.org.uk/medicine-discovery/2020-manifesto-for-medicine/
[2] GW data on file
[3] UK Government, Spending Review 2020 documents, page 12: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/938052/SR20_Web_Accessible.pdf
Job code: VV-MED-16134. Date of preparation: December 2020
This article has been developed by GW Pharmaceuticals.
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