The UK’s Life Sciences Sector Plan: a fresh launchpad or a continued labyrinth for the uptake of innovative medicines?
pharmafile | August 27, 2025 | Feature | Business Services, Market Access, Market Access Consultancy, Sales and Marketing |Â Â NHS, Visions4HealthÂ
By Sabina Syed, Managing Director at Visions4Health
The UK government’s Life Sciences Sector Plan is an ambitious blueprint, part of the government’s flagship Industrial Strategy aiming to position the country as Europe’s leading life sciences economy by 2030 and third globally by 2035. For pharmaceutical and healthtech leaders, it presents a compelling proposition: a science-rich ecosystem, deep clinical trial infrastructure and a unified healthcare system in the National Health Service (NHS). The plan is intended to chime with the NHS 10-year plan and comprises three key pillars:
- Enabling world-class R&D
- Making the UK an outstanding place in which to start, grow, scale and invest
- Driving health innovation and NHS reform.
Within these pillars are six headline actions and related metrics to monitor progress over the coming years. However, since its publication in July there are already signs of bumps in the road ahead that pose threats to the plan’s ambition, eg, the recent collapse of negotiations between the UK government and industry on an overhaul of the 2024 Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access (VPAG), and companies such as Gilead Sciences deciding to forgo NICE appraisal and NHS reimbursement for a new indication of a cancer drug.1 2
We do, however, have a real chance to focus on some ‘here and now’ strategic thinking and engage in grassroots tactics that will help shape and influence the future of life sciences in the UK. One example is section 1.3.3 ‘Ensuring that all patients have access to clinically and cost-effective innovations’. It centres on the use of real-world data, having a single national formulary, streamlining procurement processes, developing new primary care commercial pricing mechanisms, faster uptake of biosimilars, having regionally-based health innovation zones and clarity on healthcare goals, and encouragement to partner with industry to support patient care pathway transformation.
As an example, we will take a closer look at biosimilar uptake: the plan’s ambition is that the UK will be the world leader in uptake of off-patent medications, particularly biosimilars. Most of us recognise why this is of economic benefit and that more patients can benefit from their use. Despite this, evidence also shows that in some cases, biosimilars require more frequent administration or healthcare visits, such as hospital-based infusions rather than home-based options, which can increase clinician, patient and caregiver burden.3
Real-world studies, including data from NHS England, highlight that while biosimilars reduce drug costs, they may lead to higher indirect costs if care pathways are not adapted to reduce unnecessary appointments.4 How do we strike the right balance between acquisition cost and uptake of innovative medicines? Could biosimilar manufacturers commit to a more proportionate investment into patient-centred delivery models and generate real-world evidence in partnership with the NHS? Or could they incorporate more value-added services as part of formulary inclusion, eg, education, delivery support and supply reliability? If so, what constitutes proportionate? In addition, how do we mitigate potential vulnerabilities in the single national formulary , eg, supply chain disruptions, and duplication of effort due to affordability concerns at a local level. This needs to be defined and examined further by the whole pharma ecosystem, including branded manufacturers.
So, what’s next?
There are many areas within the Life Sciences Sector Plan that commercial leaders will wish to engage with strategically and tactically. Looking at it through the lens of ‘uptake of innovative medicines’, consider the following:
- Mapping the actions and targets contained in the ‘Driving Health Innovation and NHS Reform’ pillar and have a clear area(s) you want to engage on. Build an internal vision and plan towards this with a cross-functional UK/global workstream. Be clear on how this intersects with the other pillars and metrics.
- The plan clearly states which NHS and governmental stakeholders will be responsible for the different actions. Conduct a stakeholder mapping exercise and understand your engagement points relative to where you want to focus.
- ‘Collaboration and partnership’ is a central theme of the plan. Define what this will be for your organisation globally, nationally and at a local system level. Can your internal partnership capabilities realise their true potential? What are you willing to invest and how do you want to invest it? Do you already have exemplars you can use to shape the discussion with key stakeholders?
- For companies outside the UK without a local footprint – build direct partnerships with NHS trusts or with health innovation networks and other local alliances that have a crucial role in embedding innovation in the care pathway.
- Customer listening exercises are key to delivery. Understanding the nuances of the devolved landscape is increasingly critical. Successful uptake will depend on translating national policy into local adoption. NHS staff are undergoing huge structural changes and understanding how this will affect their thinking on the uptake of innovative medicines and how they want to collaborate with industry will be paramount. Also consider how a deep understanding of the uptake landscape can influence other actions contained within the Life Sciences Sector Plan.
- New mechanisms for local primary care commercial agreements. How can digital tools enable a faster, clearer realisation of agreement outcomes for both industry and NHS benefit?
In summary
The Life Sciences Sector Plan signals the UK’s desire to lead, not just in research, but in uptake of health innovation that delivers real-world impact to patients. For life sciences companies, the UK can be more than a pilot market – it can be a renewed launch pad and proving ground. However, success depends not just on the innovation itself, but on deep understanding, partnership and long-term engagement.
References
- The Times. ‘Precious’ breast cancer drug withheld from NHS in price row:
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/healthcare/article/breast-cancer-drug-trodelvy-held-nhs-bw6m2zb7m (Accessed 26 August 2025). - Pharmaphorum. As Streeting threatens no deal, talks on drug levy collapse: https://pharmaphorum.com/news/streeting-threatens-no-deal-talks-drug-levy-collapse (Accessed 26 August 2025).
- EUnetHTA (2020). Biosimilars Joint Assessment: Uptake, patient burden and real-world outcomes. European Network for Health Technology Assessment.
- NHS England (2021) What is a biosimilar medicine? Available at: https://www.england.nhs.uk/medicines/biosimilars/ (Accessed: 26 August 2025)
Sabina Syed is the founder and Managing Director of Visions4Health, which she established in 2007. With over 25 years’ experience in the NHS, pharmaceuticals and healthcare consulting, Sabina is passionate about supporting the life sciences industry shift towards a ‘health systems and pathways approach’ to doing business.
Visions4Health – market access experts and your gateway to local adoption at pace. We offer innovative and tailored market access solutions that deliver results to you, the health system and the patients you serve. We do this by leveraging our lived experience, our understanding of national and local healthcare systems, and insights generated by healthcare system stakeholders that sit on our Healthcare System Council and within our trusted Networks4Health community.
This article featured in: September 2025 – The Pharmafile Brief
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