We need to nurture the UK’s life science strength: Research

As headlines about how the US remains a far superior and dominant pharmaceutical player than the UK continue to prevail, the Financial Times published a very promising article on where the UK’s strengths lie in this sector. The US continues to look to the UK for innovation and has continued to invest significant amounts into research from the UK.

The most eye-catching quote of the article was from 4Bio Capital’s Dima Kuzmin, who said, “What we need in the country is . . . more professors showing up at their work at university in an Aston Martin or in a Ferrari. Because nothing motivates better than an example that is tangible, that you can see.” Whilst it's not my place to comment on people’s preference of car brands, it speaks to where we need to be seeing more investment in the country.

The Government needs to leverage this strength the UK has to guarantee our universities remain top-ranking education and research institutions. History has shown the opposite. Over the last 30-plus years, universities have had to amend their funding models to compensate for the reduction in funding they receive from the Government each year. They are now increasingly reliant on international student fees rather than grants to fund their groundbreaking research.

There is also a lot to be said about attracting younger people into research careers. Some of the brightest graduates in the UK see the private sector as the most fruitful option for their future. This makes research and university jobs less attractive and accessible to many young people. If universities continue not to be competitive in attracting talent, in the long run, we might lose this advantage of being world-leading in science research.

It seems like an obvious win to me. If we know we are good at it, why not just go ahead and support it?

Whilst the UK might be in a position to maintain its leading position in science and technology, the article by the Financial Times acknowledges that the US is in a position to dominate. The country has the capital required to scale large biotech firms, resulting in many start-ups and university spinouts moving from the UK to the US to grow. This also results in talent leaving the country for greener pastures, or as Dima Kuzmin put it, better cars.