UK Government has a Vision for Pharma R&D—do it like the SARS-CoV-2 injections

J K Rowling couldn't make it up!

Life Sciences Vision for UK - "Build Back Better: Our Plan for Growth"

Introducing UK Government’s brand new vision for life sciences in our country:

Life Sciences Vision for UK - "Build Back Better: Our Plan for Growth"

It may seem a long document, but you only need to read the Foreword and end pages to draw the only conclusion possible:

UK Government wants to develop medicines like the SARS-CoV-2 injections—rough and ready.

Beginning with the Foreword (there are two for some reason). The first is by the then Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, someone who has had a difficult relationship with the truth all his life.

Boris sets the scene for the fairy tale:

“Yet these extraordinary achievements are not merely the product of brilliant science, they have also required a radically different way of supporting it. Driven by an urgency for results and a willingness to take risks, the Vaccine Taskforce used government funding to mobilise private sector investment and inspire a seamless collaboration between our scientists, pharmaceutical companies, regulators, and NHS”

Take that to mean “we had to get it done quick, so we changed the rules and let all the others involved change theirs, especially our mates, while we stuffed their pockets with cash.”

The second Foreword is a team effort, written by Professor Sir John Bell, Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng MP, Lord David Prior, Sir Jonathan Symonds.

So, we have Professor Sir John Bell, who talks a good game, but will not have a clue about developing and commercialising medicinal products. Then two politicians, one a former merchant banker, the other a former analyst in financial services.

Next we have the Chair of NHS England, and the Chair of GSK. Both organisations are in decline. It’s common knowledge that NHS is struggling, and in the last 15 years, I’ve seen GSK go from number one in the world, to number 9 today, see here.

Not a team I would have picked to come up with a vision for 21st Century Pharma R&D!

Anyway, this is an extract of what they came up with:

“Life Sciences will be one of the great drivers of growth in the twenty first century. Through innovation and technological advances, we will diagnose, treat, cure and prevent a much wider range of disease than is currently possible. The research and development that leads to innovative new healthcare products will underpin a globally successful industry. There is a race on to determine which countries will lead this Sector over the next decade and the prize both in terms of economic growth and human health is large. The UK is ideally positioned to compete successfully in this field with outstanding science, and globally successful pharma, biotechnology and medtech sectors.”

Take that to mean “There’s a ton of kudos and cash going begging here if we can keep rushing these products to market and be first past the global Pharma R&D post.”

Now turn to the back pages

Scroll on down to the last two pages, and you will see what ‘stakeholders’ were part of dreaming up this incredible vision:

If you have not been able to open the document, here are the organisations that have engaged in the development of the Life Sciences Vision:

Abingworth
Academic Health Science Networks
Academy of Medical Science
Accelerated Access Collaborative
Achilles
Ada Lovelace Institute
Advanced Medical Solutions
Alchemab
Alzheimer’s Research UK
Arctoris
Autolus
Association of British HealthTech Industries
Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry
Association of Medical Charities

AstraZeneca
BBraun
Benevolent AI
Berghealth
BioIndustry Association
British Generic Manufacturers Association
British Heart Foundation
British In Vitro Diagnostics Association
British Heart Foundation
British Lung Foundation
Cambridge University
Cancer Research UK
Care Quality Commission
Cell Centric
Chief Scientist Office – Scotland
Cogent Skills
Compass Pathways
Convatec
Coloplast
DeepMind
Dementia Industry Group
Department for the Economy –
Northern Ireland
Earlham Institute
Epidarex Capital
Freeline Therapeutics
Fujifilm
Genetic Alliance
Genomics England
GlaxoSmithKline
Health Data Research UK
Health Research Authority
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority
Human Research Authority
Human Tissue Authority
Imperial College London
Immunocore
INIVATA
Invest Northern Ireland
IQVIA
Johnson & Johnson
Kyowa Kirin
L&G
Livanova

Medicines and Healthcare products
Regulatory Agency
Medical Research Council
Mediplus
MSD
National Health Service England
NHS Digital and NHS Digitrials
NHSX
National Institute for Health and Care
Excellence
National Institute for Health Research
National Voices
Newcastle University
Novabiotics
Novartis
Novo Nordisk
Nuffield Department of Population Health
NTL World
Oncimmune
Our Future Health
OSI
Oxford Nanopore
Oxford University
Penlon
Pfizer
Phillips
Polar Capital
Professional Standards Authority
Quadram Institute
RedX
Resmed
Roche
Sanofi
Stryker
Sustainable Medicines Partnership
SV Health Investors
Synairgen
Syncona
Takeda
Thermofisher Scientific
UCB
UK Biobank
UK Dementia Research Institute
UK Research & Innovation
Understanding Patient Data
University College London
University of Birmingham
University of Liverpool
Vaccitech
Wellcome
Welsh Government
3D Life Prints

Smith & Nephew

A vision of the future is not created from the past and present

So here we have it. UK Government has consulted existing players in the pharma industry on what the future should look like. They have come up with a vision based on the last three years experience with COVID-19.

This quote from the Introduction confirms it:

“The collective ambition of the Government and the Sector is for the UK to build on the scientific successes and ways of working from COVID-19 to tackle future disease
challenges – silent pandemics – including cancer, obesity, dementia, ageing; securing
jobs and investment and becoming the leading global hub for Life Sciences.”

Have you ever heard anything so ridiculous? Cancer, obesity, dementia, ageing are diseases that the pharma industry has made little or no progress on for decades. The industry has failed miserably in tackling these horrible conditions. Renaming them a ‘silent pandemic’ is just propaganda.

I’ll leave this with you for now, to digest the enormity of the UK Government adopting a Vision that is guaranteed to be catastrophic for the world of safe, effective, quality medicines of the future.

P.S. If anyone feels it in their heart and pocket to take out a paid subscription, that would be awesome. Hopefully, $5 a month is affordable for some, and I love sharing all this stuff so much! :O)