Office of Life Sciences welcomed by UK firms

The UK BioIndustry Association has welcomed the government's decision to set up an Office for Life Sciences. The biotechnology manufacturer's  group stated that "the establishment of OLS is a positive and  much-needed development and a new way for government and industry to  work collaboratively to secure the future of what should be one of the  UK's most promising sectors."

Recently, the BIA had highlighted the capital challenges that the UK  life sciences sector faces in the current economic situation and called  for swift government action "to reinvigorate the investment environment"  for small- and medium-sized enterprises (Marketletter April 6). The BIA  believes that the OLS is the mechanism to deliver results, provided it  can do so rapidly.

Many of the required initiatives were outlined in the Bioscience  Innovation and Growth Team's Review and Refresh of Bioscience 2015,  published in January. These include: