Health secretary to chair influential pharma group
pharmafile | February 11, 2009 | News story | Sales and Marketing |Â Â ABPI, reformÂ
Health Secretary Alan Johnson has been appointed the chair of the Ministerial Industry Strategy Group (MISG) and business secretary Lord Mandelson is to become a full-time member of the group.
The government announced the move on 27 January, and said it demonstrated its commitment to supporting the industry.
The MISG has been in place for several years, and has become a forum for UK pharma leaders to meet ministers and senior civil servants and discuss strategic issues.
The appointment of Johnson as chair of the group is significant, as it reinforces his existing twin role of managing the interests of the NHS and the pharma industry – a role which some have said is intrinsically contradictory.
Senior pharma and biotech executives attended the meeting on the same day as the government announced a £2.3 billon package of loans for the UK car industry, but the government stressed the meeting was about longer term issues, and very distinct from the meeting Lord Mandelson was having with the car industry.
ABPI director general Dr Richard Barker nevertheless took the opportunity to warn that the UK's status as a world leader in the discovery and development of new medicines is under threat, and that the current competitive environment needs further reappraisal.
Extend R&D tax credits
The UK's biotech representative body the BIA called for a number of new measures to improve competitiveness. These included providing incentives for pharma companies to jointly invest alongside government and VCs in a fund for start-ups and early stage companies, as well as encouraging established pharma to invest in British bioscience companies by either off-setting losses against tax or through a tax relief on investment made.
Dr Clive Dix, BIA chief executive said: "The UK Government has invested billions in the UK science base. We now have a real opportunity to translate our excellence in bioscience into innovative medicines and therapies as well as creating high value-added jobs and making a return to the UK economy. We can only do this with immediate Government action."
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