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Industry bosses have said that a Government scheme launched last year to speed-up patients’ access to medical advances is doing well.
The Office of Life Sciences blueprint was launched to help UK pharmaceutical and biotech companies turn their research into new treatments.
Four industry bodies have backed the scheme through a joint statement praising its ‘strong progress’.
The four were the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), the Association of British Healthcare Industries (ABHI), the BioIndustry Association (BIA) and the British In-Vitro Diagnostics Association (BIVDA).
A progress report on the initiative was published on Wednesday entitled Life Sciences 2010: Delivering the Blueprint.
The plan included measures such as “Patent Box” – a plan to keep British discoveries for development and manufacturing in the UK. It also pushed for the embedding of clinical trials into ‘core NHS activity’.
The industry was also behind the ‘Innovation Pass’ – which provides drugs not yet available on the NHS to patients with rare diseases.
Richard Baker, director general of the ABPI, said: “Work to implement and extend this strategy must be a high priority for both government and industry in the coming years, to maintain the UK’s leadership role and the flow of life-changing, innovative therapies for patients.”
Copyright Press Association 2010
Office for Life Sciences
