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The new Life Sciences Vision sets 10-year strategy for sector to try and solve some of the biggest healthcare problems of our generation, including cancer and dementia.
Prof Andrew Morris FMedSci, Director, Health Data Research UK, said:
“As the pandemic has starkly illustrated, data saves lives. As the national institute for health data science, we welcome the Life Sciences Vision and look forward to supporting the strategic goals on Health Data. To do so, we will continue to work with partners across the UK including the UK Health Data Research Alliance to develop a secure, comprehensive infrastructure to access health data, supporting our incredible health researchers to use that data in a trustworthy way. Crucially, we will do this with the collaborative ‘Team Science’ approach that has been a key component of the UK scientific community’s response to the pandemic, ensuring patients and the public are engaged throughout the journey.”
Nicola Perrin, Director of Policy and Public Affairs, Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC), said:
“The Life Sciences Vision sets out an ambitious and important plan for how the UK can become a science superpower, and has left no doubts about the vital role our charities have to play in helping to make it a reality.
“Medical research charities will be central to addressing major health challenges set out in the Vision, including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and mental health. However, to do this further support is required to help them recover from the pandemic and enable them to grow their substantial research investment in a sustainable way.
“Government must also be wary of the underlying challenges that need to be addressed when delivering their data ambitions. The public’s trust in the use and sharing of health data has recently been undermined, and there is work to do to raise public awareness and improve engagement in order to build confidence that health data will be used responsibly.
“We look forward to continuing to work with government and key stakeholders to deliver this positive and bold vision to ultimately bring benefits to patients sooner.”
Professor Sir Simon Wessely FRS FMedSci, Regius Professor of Psychiatry, King’s College London, said:
“It is both significant and welcome that this is the first time that a specific policy for mental health research and not just dementia has been included in the Life Sciences Vision.”
Dr Mark Downs, Chief Executive, Royal Society of Biology (RSB), said:
“Health sciences have a critical role to play in helping the UK realise the government’s ambition of becoming a science superpower. The ten-year vision provides a much needed framework that will aid not just health but the economy too. Confirmation of the ongoing commitment to achieving collective expenditure of 2.4% of GDP on research is very welcome.
“But, in achieving these goals, it will also be critical to recognise the breadth of science that contributes to health, including the whole of the biological sciences sector. Discovery research underpins our capability to understand and respond to challenges such as the current pandemic and should continue to be a core strand of UK funding alongside investment in technology and methods of application.”
Richard Torbett, Chief Executive, Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), said:
“This is an ambitious statement about how the UK can become a life sciences superpower.
“We’ve seen just how important the partnership between industry, the government and the NHS has been to the response to the pandemic, and we need to take the same approach if we are going to make the UK a global hub for life sciences.
“By putting the NHS at the centre of the vision, we can also deliver for patients and make the UK the best place in the world to research, develop, manufacture, and use the latest medicines and vaccines.”
Prof Fiona Watt FRS FMedSci, Executive Chair, Medical Research Council, said:
“Once again, the different elements of the UK life sciences community have collaborated to set out an exciting vision of what needs to be done to not only improve human health but also stimulate the economy. I would particularly like to pay tribute to the staff of the Office for Life Sciences for pulling the different elements together into a compelling document.”
Prof Bart De Strooper, Director, UK Dementia Research Institute, said:
“The new Life Sciences Vision is an ambitious plan of action demonstrating UK leadership in health sciences and is a huge motivator for the UK Dementia Research Institute. Seeing dementia top of the agenda is very promising as we take on this enormous challenge. At the UK Dementia Research Institute we are making discoveries at speed and our work fuels the pipeline to turn our knowledge into treatments. We look forward to working with the government, in alignment with this new strategy, to make these ideas a reality so together we can be a science superpower that saves lives.”
Declared interests
The nature of this story means everyone quoted above could be perceived to have a stake in it. As such, our policy is not to ask for interests to be declared – instead, they are implicit in each person’s affiliation.