CEO blog – 1 June 2026

^{Chris Molloy on Parliament Day, the EU start-up fund, MHRA rare disease regulation, Northern Ireland, women in biotech and scientific leadership}

Dear Colleagues,

Across policy, investment and regulation, there are early signs that the business environment for UK life sciences is improving. We are seeing strong engagement from policymakers and national funders, fresh thinking on rare disease regulation and new opportunities for collaboration with Europe. Meanwhile, we recognise that many of you across the sector are still hanging tough. Money is flowing but needs to cascade further and wider across the nation. Services markets are tough to penetrate and face intense global competition. Trial start-ups are improving but this needs to become business as usual. Slow national adoption affects the business case for biotech.

Your problems are our priorities, and we work together with and for you to turn momentum into more widespread outcomes for both you and the patients we all serve.

Parliament Day: taking your case directly to policymakers

Our June calendar begins with BIA’s Parliament Day, when members will take the needs of the UK life sciences and biotech sector directly into Whitehall and Westminster. It is a face-to-face opportunity to show policymakers the potential of our innovation ecosystem, and – vitally – how they can improve the day-to-day realities of building and scaling companies in the UK.

UK life sciences and biotech consistently attracts a major share of European biotech investment, supports hundreds of thousands of jobs and generates significant economic value. At a time when instability and geopolitical tension are deterring investment in many major markets, the UK has a real opportunity to strengthen its position further.

We all want companies to start, scale and stay here, selling across the world. To achieve sustainable, innovation-driven economic growth in today’s changing world the UK needs to align nationally to maximise its wealth of biotechs. More money needs to flow, and faster; support and skills need to be available to companies preparing to scale; key enablers like access to health data must be delivered; and right across the nation regulation, trials and adoption must align.

Throughout the day, we will be talking to Government about the issues that matter to you, including financing, data access, clinical trials and, fundamentally, ensuring patients get access to life-saving medicine.

MHRA rare disease consultation: smarter regulation can unlock wider progress

We welcome the MHRA's publication of draft regulatory framework for rare disease and opportunity for us and our members to comment through public consultation.

MHRA's action drives investment and improves the business environment for all life science companies. Solving regulation and adoption issues for rare diseases helps solve them for other conditions too. This should be just the first step of many more, extending to less rare conditions and in delivering on our call for alignment that we will be making at Parliament Day.

EU start-up fund: a welcome sign of greater UK–EU alignment

Last week also brought an encouraging signal from Europe, with reports that the UK is in talks to join the European Innovation Council Fund, the EU’s €4 billion deep tech investment vehicle. If realised, this would open up a valuable new source of capital for innovative British start-ups and another sign that a more practical UK–EU reset is possible.

The right approach to alignment is one that is pragmatic and innovation-friendly: building on the UK’s return to Horizon Europe, opening up funding routes where they add real value without detracting from the UK’s own investment programmes, and creating a framework that supports ambitious biotech businesses on both sides.

In short, cooperation where it helps innovation thrive is good for our sector and good for patients.

Belfast shows the strength of the UK’s regional life sciences clusters

The geographical spread of our sector is a priority for BIA, and it was a pleasure join our Chair, Shaun Grady, in Belfast last week to see first-hand the momentum building across the region.

From antibody biotech to academia-led scientific services, Northern Ireland’s (NI) life sciences cluster is entering a new phase of growth. NI has strengths in academic spin-outs and school of Pharmacy, excellence in antibody technologies and a unique place in regulation – bordering the EU.

The Future Medicines Institute, new support from the MHRA in Belfast and the continued leadership of HIRANI are all helping to build a more connected and ambitious innovation environment.

The standout strength of connectivity across industry, academia, healthcare and government is exactly how strong regional ecosystems create national advantage, and we will continue to champion clusters like Belfast as central to the UK’s life sciences future.

Women in Biotech and She Steers: boosting female leadership

BIA’s work to strengthen leadership across the sector continues through Women in Biotech and She Steers.

The final She Steers module, focused on leadership and board dynamics, addresses an issue that remains pressing for our sector: how we build boards that better reflect the range of talent across biotech. That conversation will continue at our next Women in Biotech event in Canary Wharf on 8 July, where the focus will be on building strong investor relationships. Sign up today!

Recognition for scientific leadership

The type of strong leadership our programme aims to bolster is vital across our sector, so we are delighted to see John McCafferty, David Rees and Gordon Sanghera recognised among this year’s new Fellows of the Royal Society.

Their election is a reminder of the depth of scientific and entrepreneurial talent connected to the UK ecosystem, and of the global impact that leaders from our sector continue to have.

In the Academy of Medical Sciences, we congratulate Dr Lindsay Edwards of Relation Therapeutics and Dr Natalie Mount of Cytospire Therapeutics on their appointments.

Wishing you a productive week ahead.