Beyond the Universities: UK Fails on Commercialising Science, Says Pharma

While the UK still boasts some of the “best universities” and “best scientists in the world,” it is failing to provide the commercial environment needed to turn that brilliance into new medicines. This is the stark warning from the pharmaceutical industry, which argues that the country is no longer a good place for the crucial development phase of drug creation.
Sanofi’s UK chief, Paul Naish, pointed out this disconnect, stating that despite the academic excellence, the UK is an “expensive place to operate” with poor market conditions. This is why his company has cut its clinical trials by 50% and moved research from Cambridge to Boston, a city known for its strong commercial biotech ecosystem.
This failure to bridge the gap between academic discovery and commercial application is having major consequences. MSD’s cancellation of its £1bn R&D hub in London removes a vital piece of infrastructure designed to do just that. Eli Lilly’s paused “gateway lab” was also intended to help smaller biotechs commercialise their research.
The government is now facing calls to look beyond funding basic science and create a “proper plan” that supports the entire life sciences pipeline. This includes reforming pricing and spending policies to ensure that medicines discovered in the UK can also be viably developed and sold there.