Life Sciences sector attracts over £3 billion in new public-private investment in 12 months, reflecting international confidence in UK science and innovation.
- Life Sciences sector attracts more than £3 billion in new public-private investment in just 12 months, reflecting international confidence in the UK’s world-class science, innovation and health ecosystem.
- Patients benefit from new drugs and faster-access to life-saving medicines.
- New plan to help unlock the talent to support 66,000 additional roles in Life Sciences in every part of the country by 2035.
Communities across the country are benefitting from new treatments and advances as a result of the government’s Life Sciences Sector Plan.
In the first year the Plan has helped attract £3billion of investment, deliver new medicines and cut waiting times for the approval of life-saving treatments.
This is helping to give patients access to transformative new treatments, like the world’s first-ever immunotherapy for type 1 diabetes, which was approved for use by the NHS in England and Wales just last month.
Overall, the average wait time to set up clinical trials has dropped from 169 to 122 days in the first half of 2025 to 2026 and patients are also expected to get new medicines up to 6 months sooner under the new joint MHRA-NICE approval process.
Major private investments are creating hotbeds of innovation and revitalising regional economies up and down the country.
These include a £300 million backing from AstraZeneca to support its operations in its Cambridge headquarters and a facility in Macclesfield using AI to discover new drugs, Moderna opening its new innovation centre in Harwell with a £1 billion UK R&D investment commitment over the next 10 years, and UCB’s £500 million investment in a new world-class R&D hub in Windlesham, Surrey, which is developing a range of transformative medicines for immunological diseases.
The life sciences sector is key to driving growth and creating jobs in every corner of the nation, generating around £147 billion in turnover and employing some 360,000 people – equivalent to a city the size of Leicester – and nearly half of these jobs are based outside of London, the East and South East of England.
The new, dedicated Jobs Plan will help unlock the talent needed for 66,000 additional jobs in priority occupations across the sector by 2035, from lab technicians and chemical scientists to software developers.
The news comes in the first annual implementation update on the Life Sciences Sector Plan published today (9 July), which sets out the government’s progress against its goals for the sector. This includes the headline ambition for the UK to become the third largest life sciences economy in the world by 2035.
Science, Innovation, and Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said:
In its first year, our Life Sciences Sector Plan is delivering cutting-edge treatments to tackle cancer, new opportunities for British businesses to start up and grow, and well-paid jobs that improve lives for families. A thriving life sciences sector is good for NHS patients and good for economic growth across the UK.
People in every part of the country are already starting to see the benefits of our Plan – up to 66,000 jobs ready to be unlocked, slashed waiting times for clinical trials, and new medicines being rolled out to patients. When our life sciences sector succeeds, it improves all of our lives.
James Murray, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, said:
In the year since we launched our Life Sciences Sector Plan, this government has brought in £3 billion to speed up access to innovative treatments and transform the experience of patients. We also smashed our 150-day target for clinical trial set-up, slashing red tape to get those trials up and running at the speed patients deserve.
By bringing together the brilliance of British science with the power of our NHS, we’re not just improving healthcare outcomes – we’re also building a stronger economy and creating jobs across the country.
Business Secretary Peter Kyle said:
Life sciences are at the heart of this government’s modern Industrial Strategy. We are determined to make the UK a global life sciences superpower, and this investment will create high-skilled jobs, drive innovation and deliver breakthroughs that save lives.
This announcement also marks the formal incorporation of the Health Data Research Service (HDRS) as a company, moving the programme from planning to delivery and marking a major milestone in one of the Life Sciences Sector Plan’s headline commitments.
HDRS will help simplify and accelerate secure access to health data for approved researchers, helping scientists spend less time navigating fragmented systems and more time generating the evidence and discoveries that could transform patient care.
Developed alongside the Modern Industrial Strategy and the NHS 10 Year Health Plan, the Life Sciences Sector Plan sets out how the UK can harness its world-leading strengths in science, innovation and health to drive economic growth, create high-quality jobs and improve outcomes for patients.
Under The Life Sciences Sector Plan and broader Modern Industrial Strategy, the UK has cemented its status as one of the top destinations for life sciences investment, supported by government measures like the £520 million Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund. In the 12 months since its establishment, it has crowded in more than £700 million in investment, creating or safeguarding more than 1300 jobs.
The Jobs Plan will ensure people have the skills to get the jobs the sector is creating, and that the sector has the workforce it needs to keep growing. It will support the strengthening of apprenticeship pathways and technical education routes into the sector, including through T Levels and future V Levels which are post-16 technical and vocational qualifications, as well as supporting upskilling and reskilling throughout careers through the Life Long Learning Entitlement and Skills Bootcamps. This will help to make the workforce ready for the adoption of new technologies like AI and quantum, and strengthen the talent pool on offer in every part of the country. It is backed by a new Life Sciences industry-led sector skills body, which will bring together government, employers, trade unions and training providers to identify skills gaps provide evidence and advice to support decision-making on filling them.
We are also putting the UK and the NHS in the best position to gain swift access to new medicines. Through our UK/US pharmaceutical arrangement, we are ensuring we can continue to gain access to the latest pharmaceutical treatments for NHS patients, as well as securing a commitment to zero tariffs on our pharmaceutical exports to the US – the best agreement any country has achieved.
Notes to editor
- Slashing clinical trial set up to under 150 days (from 169 to 122 days) was met in April 2026: Government drives forward its 150-day clinical trial target
- See the Life Sciences Sector Plan: One Year On update.
- See the Life Sciences Sector Jobs Plan.
Quotes
Pascal Soriot, CEO AstraZeneca said:
2026 has been an important year of tangible action advancing UK life sciences. The first ever increase of the NICE threshold since 1999, the establishment of the Health Data Research Service, and measures to speed up clinical trial delivery. We look forward to working with the government to further strengthen its global competitiveness and build on this momentum.
Deepak Nath, Chief Executive Officer, Smith+Nephew, said:
Smith+Nephew welcomes the progress made over the past year to strengthen the UK’s medical technology environment. Regulatory reforms, including the MHRA’s work on recognition of some international approvals of medical devices, are helping to reinforce the UK’s attractiveness as a destination for medtech investment. We support continued efforts to ensure the full value of innovation is recognised for patients, the NHS and the wider economy, and look forward to working with government and NHS partners to deliver the ambitions of the Life Sciences Sector Plan.
Richard Torbett, Chief Executive of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), said:
A year on, the Life Sciences Sector Plan has moved meaningfully into delivery, and it’s good to see the positive progress being made. Patients are already waiting less time for clinical trials, new investment is starting to flow into the UK, and the regulatory system is on a stronger footing.
We’re keen to build on this momentum together, particularly to further improve the commercial environment that underpins the sector’s growth and is so critical to the success of this plan. That means working with the government to deliver on its commitment to increase investment in innovative medicines, ensuring that changes to how medicines reach patients work as intended, while also keeping the UK competitive on the world stage. We look forward to continuing this close partnership with government.
Peter Ellingworth, Chief Executive of the Association of British HealthTech Industries (ABHI), said:
ABHI welcomes this timely update and remains committed to supporting the Office for Life Sciences in accelerating the delivery of actions right across the Plan. The LSSP, alongside the 10 Health Plan, has attracted a lot of interest internationally and progress is being closely followed by a group of senior HealthTech leaders. This report now provides a helpful benchmark when that group reconvenes in London early next year.
Professor Chris Molloy, CEO of the UK BioIndustry Association (BIA), said:
The UK has a wealth of science, and the Life Sciences Sector Plan provides the alignment needed to turn that strength into economic growth and better outcomes for patients. Government shares the sector’s ambition: start here, scale here, stay here and serve the world from here.
We now have the world’s most innovative and stable medicines and healthcare regulator, faster clinical trial set-up for advanced biotechs, improved access to global capital, and the foundations of secure, enabling health data through HDRS and Our Future Health.
The US–UK pharmaceutical deal also provides a framework for purposeful, evidence-based collaboration between industry and government to improve patient access to the latest innovative medicines.
But in an increasingly competitive world, simply going faster than before is not enough. Pace is paramount and we need a fundamental change of gear to accelerate to the front of the pack — particularly in unlocking high-volume domestic finance, from company proof of concept through to scale-up, speeding up clinical trials and patients’ access to the latest medicines.
The future government must provide policy continuity and raise the bar, going harder and faster on everything the Life Sciences Sector Plan promises.