UK report on NHS future welcomed by drug industry

The interim report by Lord Ara Darzi into the future of the UK's National Health Service has been welcomed by both the BioIndustry Association (BIA) and the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry. The document is mostly focused on the administrative arrangements of the NHS' regional structures and specific contractual issues involving general practitioners. However, the BIA and the ABPI have both expressed support for the establishment, proposed by Lord Darzi, of a new Health Innovation Council.

The BIA's chief executive, Aisling Burnard, said that "the bioscience sector has a key role to play taking forward Lord Darzi's vision. Biotech medicines have the potential to address unmet medical need, with more than 250 million patients worldwide already having benefited from approved biotech medicines and therapies to treat or prevent heart attacks, multiple sclerosis, breast cancer, cystic fibrosis and leukemia, for example." She added: "improving the UK's notoriously low uptake of innovative medicines and at the same time ensuring that there is a supportive environment for R&D are key not only for the UK to remain an attractive bioscience research location, but also for UK patients to fully benefit from the results of this research."

For its part, the ABPI highlighted Lord Darzi's stated desire to see the UK as a world leader in pharmaceutical R&D. The industry group also welcomed the interim report's focus on locally-driven changes in the NHS and the recognition by its author of the development with NHS support of life-saving drugs, including in the oncological field.