Government announces multi-million-pound funding for medtech sector

Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt has unveiled £650 million to “fire up” the UK’s life sciences sector and committed to making it easier to get innovative medical devices into the NHS.

The multi-faceted ‘Life Sci for Growth’ package brings together 10 different policies including £121 million to improve commercial clinical trials to bring new medicines to patients faster and up to £48 million of new money for scientific innovation to prepare for any future health emergencies.

The package also includes plans to relaunch the Academic Health Science Network as Health Innovation Networks to boost innovation by bringing together the NHS, local communities, charities, academia, and industry to share best practice.

Below, AT Today has highlighted some of the key points that the assistive technology sector should be aware of, along with an important industry response from the British Healthcare Trades Association (BHTA).

The UK Government’s Office for Life Sciences champions research, innovation, and the use of technology to transform health and care service. This means the life sciences sector encompasses medical technology (medtech) to improve health and social care.

Although not all assistive technologies are classed as medical devices, many are, which means this life sciences funding announcement is of interest to the assistive technology sector too.

As a key industry driving UK growth, the Chancellor has identified the life sciences sector as a focus for government, ensuring regulation aids innovation, government funding is targeted at vital projects, and investment is diverse. This also helps to deliver the Science and Technology framework through reforming regulation, boosting investment, and driving up talent and skills.

A key part of the announcement is improving the regulatory environment for life sciences companies and UK commercial clinical trials.

The Chancellor has committed to make it easier for revolutionary healthcare products to get to NHS patients by cutting the regulatory “burden” of approving clinical trials. He also committed £121 million, made up of new and existing funding, to speed up clinical trials and improve access to real-time data via new Clinical Trial Acceleration Networks.

The manufacturing arm of the UK’s life sciences sector is also set for a funding boost with three new pots to bolster the country’s health resilience.

A Biomanufacturing Fund worth up to £38 million in new funding has been announced to incentivise investment and improve the UK’s resilience to any future pandemics, via a competitive process to distribute grants. This comes on top of a further £6.5 million made up of new funding and funding from Innovate UK to ensure that the life sciences sector continues to have the right people it needs to deliver its high skilled work.

Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay commented: “This investment is another significant step in harnessing UK innovation to help cut waiting lists – one of the government’s five priorities – and build a stronger NHS.

“We will take forward Lord O’Shaughnessy’s recommendations to speed up the delivery of clinical trials and boost patient involvement in research, so people getting NHS care can benefit from cutting-edge treatments faster, supported by £121 million in government funding.”

Importantly, to coincide with the life sciences package of investment, the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) confirmed it will launch a consultation into international recognition of medical devices by October.

The regulatory review has highlighted the need for strong leadership of reform of the health technology regulatory regime, and, as a result, Dr Laura Squire will now be focusing on this area and will move across to head up health technology regulation reporting directly into the MHRA CEO.

MHRA is also bringing in the expertise of Dr Camilla Fleetcroft, one of the Review Champions, to lead a gap analysis to ensure the programme of regulatory reform is effective in turning the Review’s recommendations into action.

Further to this, MHRA will be consulting on guidelines that support their ambition to maintain patient safety, alongside enabling and encouraging innovation and risk-proportionate regulation.

However, while the BHTA welcomes extra funding for the industry and is pleased with the commitment to growth of the sector and announcement to cut NHS waiting times, it warns that there is still outstanding uncertainty over medical device regulations and this needs to be addressed urgently.

Responding to the life science growth package David Stockdale, Chief Executive of the British Healthcare Trades Association (BHTA), said: “The BHTA welcomes any new funding for the life sciences sector, however, we are alarmed at how long it is taking to address critical issues of regulatory uncertainty for medical devices.

“These delays are hugely concerning for industry and patients alike, leading to supply issues and a reduction in investment in the UK. We acknowledge the need for further consultation, but this must be done at pace, in partnership with industry, including the BHTA, to ensure that no further ground is lost.”

See the full ‘Life Sci for Growth’ package here.