The race for supremacy — UK vs EU Life Science Leadership
As the years roll on, finding positive outcomes after Brexit are rare as hens’ teeth. As both the EU and the UK outline plans to be global leaders in Life Science by 2030, could this be a chance for the UK’s agility to come out trumps?
The UK aims to be Europe’s largest life science economy by 2030 and the third largest globally by 2035, behind the US and China. It seeks agility, innovation and leveraging the NHS as a partner in research and delivery as the backbone of its strategy.
The EU has its own plans to drive Life Science investment and innovation across the bloc in tandem with its Readiness 2030 (formerly ReArm Europe) strategy which seeks to bring European independence across many industries as a reaction to geopolitical events over the past few years. The EU seeks to leverage the large scale that its 27 member countries offer.
The same destination but different journeys, who stands the best chance of winning?
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the UK pulled off a triumph in the race to approve and deliver the first vaccines, beating the EU by three-weeks, which at the time felt like a significant timeframe. Agility won out over the larger machine of the European Union. However, that was during an international emergency and response driven by state-interests — when it comes to attracting capital, brains and industry, the stakes are much different.
What strengths do each party offer?
The UK has a pretty big ace up its sleeve in the form of Genomics England which has sequenced the genomes of 100,000 people and integrated genomics into routine NHS care, particularly around rare diseases and cancer.
Other markets have similar projects, including Germany, France (who are being assisted by Genomics England), and the EU itself, but none are as advanced or integrated.
The UK has momentum on its side as it targets sub-150 day clinical trial approval timelines, and a £520m fund to attract global production. The Mansion House Accord committed to allocate pension fund capital to invest in and scale-up businesses in biotech, medtech and digital health, which could unlock up to £50 billion.
In comparison the EU offers greater scale, which could see a €1.5 trillion economic contribution and create or support 29 million jobs. The Union is also reforming its regulator through the EU Biotech Act to accelerate market access and take away some regulatory friction.
Running multi-country clinical trials and a One Health approach, where you can integrate human, animal and environmental health trials,brings significant benefits.
The EU has a well established start-up investment landscape through the European Investment Fund and supports those start-ups to find customers through a procurement and matchmaking programme managed by the European Innovation Council.
What about their weaknesses?
The UK is not a big spender when it comes to medicines, approximately 9% of its budget vs an average of 16% for its EU peers. The NHS negotiates pretty steep rebates with pharma companies — whilst this is positive for cost saving, this may put investors off. The UK’s regulator MHRA, which played a pivotal role in vaccine delivery in 2020, meanwhile lacks the efficiency of Europe’s EMA (which incidentally pre-Brexit was based in the UK).
Whilst the EU boasts a large market and the ability to work cross-border, investors and healthcare companies tell me that in reality you still have 27 different markets to deal with. This no matter how you slice it adds layers of complexity and bureaucracy and hinders the speed of commercialisation. This speed is something which the UK in comparison can offer — although the US remains a focus in the end for all companies.
Regardless of who will win this race over the next five years, the opportunities for investors are enormous. The emphasis in both strategies for supply chain localisation will create jobs and attract skilled talent. The potential for large government contracts equally provides a level of security in your investment, when taking a long term-view.
In reality, I don’t think there will be a clear winner. Most entrants will seek to leverage opportunities in both, whilst one may start in one market, say the UK, to get speed and agility, they will then seek to find a way to access the scale of Europe.
The existing infrastructure is already set up this way. Take Genomics England as an example — this project was delivered with the help of IQVIA Although the specifics of the data is protected, the knowledge of how to do similar projects exists inside multinationals.
Ultimately, the big prize will be how Europe as a continent competes with the US and China to bring investment and innovation.
We would welcome your thoughts on this story. Email your views to Lee Murray or call 0207 183 3779.
