Just before new year, the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer wrote to regulators asking for ideas for how they could boost economic growth.
The HRA is one of a number of regulators - including the MHRA and NICE and equivalents in the four nations - supporting clinical research.
And regulators have levers that can support change, particularly when they work together.
In this way we can help realise the government’s missions to kickstart economic growth and build an NHS fit for the future, by helping create a thriving environment for life sciences in the UK.
Life sciences and economic growth
The life sciences are one of eight growth sectors that the government has identified to form part of the new ten-year industrial strategy. The strategy, due to be launched in March, will set out actions to encourage and support businesses to invest in these high growth sectors.
Clinical research and the wider life sciences sector are important contributors to population health, the efficiency and effectiveness of the NHS, and the UK economy. And in this way, a vibrant life sciences sector benefits everyone.
Industry clinical trials contribute £1.2 billion in NHS revenue, support 13,000 jobs, and prevent 3 million sick days annually. Alongside this, the UK has a sizable medical research charity sector which invested £1.7 billion in UK medical research in 2023. This spend included 1,318 clinical trials, 25,000 researcher roles and 1,146 roles in the NHS.
And the sector has the potential to be much stronger, bringer greater returns for UK health and wealth. The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry reports that a 40% increase in clinical trial activity in the UK could generate an additional £3 billion for the UK economy, and 26,000 new jobs.
Streamlined research regulation and approvals, things within our power at the HRA, coupled with a healthcare system that supports and enables all of its patients to take part in research, will attract global companies to do their research in the UK and help growth happen.
And we are already in a strong position. The number of pharmaceutical industry trials in the UK has grown for the last two years to 426 in 2023. We are 4th worldwide for phase II trials and 8th for phase III. This is because the life sciences sector works well together, for example through the UK CRD programme, because of our excellent academic reputation and our NHS, and because of work already underway for more than a decade to coordinate regulation and approval in the UK.
But there’s still more we can do.
Supporting the government’s missions
There are seven key things we’re doing which can help kickstart economic growth
The UK led the world by developing a single online system to coordinate approvals from 11 different organisations. Our digital transformation programme to replace and improve these systems, will increase UK competitiveness and to support the government’s growth mission, we are exploring how we can accelerate this transformation to realise the benefits sooner.
We’re getting faster. We’ve halved the time for clinical trials of new medicines to get approved by introducing Combined Review. We’ve supported the Enhanced National Contract Value Review (NCVR) which has made it 100 days faster to set up studies once approvals are in place. Through the DHSC led UK Clinical Research Delivery Programme, we are now working to reduce study setup times from 250 to 150 days, making the UK a global leader in regulatory performance.
Life sciences thrives when people are confident to take part in research and use its findings. Although the UK is only a medium-sized country, it has a population which can be attractive to the global pharmaceutical industry seeking greater diversity in trial participants. There is already a high level of public confidence in research in the UK – 68% of UK adults tell us that they would take part in research if asked, with 75% confident that they would be treated with dignity and respect if they did so. We’re working in partnership with the wider research community to maintain and grow this trust so that everyone is able and confident to choose to take part in research relevant to them as part of their healthcare.
We’re working with MHRA to update UK clinical trials legislation, taking a more streamlined and flexible approach while protecting the interests of patients and trial participants. The changes will make it faster and easier to run trials in the UK, compared to international comparators, supporting patients to access pioneering safe, new treatments faster and bolstering the attractiveness of the UK as a destination for innovative and ground-breaking trials of life-saving medicines. These changes are being discussed in parliament this week.
We’re supporting new technologies and new types of research. We’re part of AI and Digital Regulation Service (AIDRS) which support AI development and deployment in healthcare. This partnership working enables regulators to standardise and create simplified pathways through the research system to make it easier to do new types of research in a way that people can trust.
Partnership working is at the heart of the regulatory system and has enabled the UK to create a consistent approach across all four nations, even where different regulators and bodies are involved in each nation. There are opportunities to build on these partnerships as the government’s new Regulatory Innovation Office gets up and running to strengthen the attractiveness of the UK.
Building an NHS fit for the future
The NHS is part of the life sciences growth story too. Last July Wes Streeting, Secretary of State for Health, committed to “make the UK a life sciences and medical technology powerhouse. By ensuring the NHS works hand in hand with life sciences research institutions and medical technology companies, the government will drive the development of new treatments and help grow the industries.”
And this is a mutually beneficial relationship. We already know that greater research activity supports better health outcomes. A strong life sciences sector will support the success of the three shifts that the government is setting out in its ten-year plan to shape the future health service in England. The plan presents an opportunity to take action to strengthen the life sciences sector and realise these benefits. Crucial to doing this will be embedding research as part of high-quality healthcare throughout the NHS.
The expectations that regulators set and support the life sciences community to meet will be key to realising this. Together our work aims to make it easier to set up and do research in the NHS and support more people to be confident and able to take part, building an NHS that stays fit for the future. Ensuring that the NHS informs these expectations and is structured and resourced to meet them will be key to their success. Regulators can also support UK wide coordination through our established partnerships, alongside the England focused NHS plan.
Pulling in the same direction
Collaborative working is well established across the life science regulators, informed by business, funders, researchers, patients and the public.
From this strong foundation, we can use our different levers in concert to support the change needed to realise the government’s missions.
We are working together to articulate what we can bring and what we need from others to be most effective.
Matt Westmore, HRA Chief Executive, and Becky Purvis, HRA Director of Policy and PartnershipsA blog by