When one door closes, another slams in your face – at least employees of Pfizer and Novartis in the south of England could be forgiven for thinking so. Hard on the heels of the news of the closure of the Pfizer plant in Sandwich comes an announcement that manufacturing is to end at the Novartis facility in Horsham with the loss of a further 500 jobs.
But the advent of spring seems to have been matched by burgeoning economic measures to lift the UK’s life science sector out of its recent doldrums.
At a time of financial restraint the announcement of the government’s fiscal plans is usually something viewed by industry with apprehension, if not outright dread. This time, however, the reaction from the UK’s pharma sector has been largely positive.
In particular, the extension and simplification of the r&d tax credit scheme has been welcomed and is expected to help many more small and medium sized businesses to get off the ground. Other schemes have also been simplified and this could further stimulate investment in the biotech sector.
Significant capital investment is to be made in new facilities, including £80m to develop national research campuses at Babraham, Daresbury and Norwich, and a cell therapy and advanced therapeutics Technology and Innovation Centre is to be established.
The development of the so-called patent box legislation by the autumn has been confirmed and the red tape surrounding medical research is to be improved and simplified to shorten the time to approval for clinical trials and speed up patient access to new medicines.
Of course, none of this will offer any immediate consolation to those at Pfizer and Novartis whose jobs in manufacturing are disappearing. But it is an affirmation of the government’s commitment to keeping the UK at the forefront of pharmaceutical research and development.
As these measures start to take effect they will not only enhance the country’s position as a world leader in life sciences, but they will also make the UK an increasingly attractive and competitive place to do business. In the longer term, that can only be a positive move for those seeking to work in the sector.