CEO Update - 23 June 2025
The UK Government’s Industrial Strategy has just been published this morning, and it is great to see our sector and our priorities at the heart of it. The Government understands that our sector can drive economic growth over the next decade and help deliver an NHS fit for the future.
We are on the verge of creating a new generation of globally impactful companies, so it is a smart move by the Government to establish a dedicated support service to help 10–20 high-potential UK life science companies scale, attract investment, and remain headquartered in the UK.
Steve Bates OBE
CEO, BIA
The £4 billion British Business Bank Industrial Strategy Growth Capital initiative will bring new agility to support fledgling companies and cutting-edge technologies as part of the pro-innovation Industrial Strategy. We look forward to working closely with the Bank as they establish this programme for our sector. These, alongside improved health data resources for innovators, faster clinical trials, more streamlined and joined-up medicines regulation and access pathways, and investments in medicines manufacturing, mean this Industrial Strategy (and the upcoming Life Sciences Sector Plan) delivers across the breadth of BIA’s priorities on behalf of our members.
Alongside the Industrial Strategy, the Government has published a Digital and Technologies Sector Plan, which includes engineering biology as a core enabling technology for the UK economy. It promises investment in R&D and scale-up infrastructure, and addressing regulatory barriers for innovative products, all areas that BIA published detailed policy recommendations for in February. We are expecting the Life Sciences Sector Plan within weeks.
Draig launch boosts sector
Wales-based biotech is leading the charge this week, as Draig Therapeutics launched with a $140 million investment to advance its portfolio of next-generation therapies for major neuropsychiatric disorders. It’s former BIA Chair Ruth McKernan’s latest company creation, as Operating Partner at SV Health Investors, and she will serve as Executive Chair of Draig, which has a scientific heritage rooted in Cardiff University.
The oversubscribed Series A financing was led by Access Biotechnology, with participation from Canaan Partners, SR One, Sanofi Ventures, Schroders Capital, as well as seed investors SV Health Investors (which co-founded the company) and ICG. The new funds will enable Draig to advance its lead candidate, DT-101—a next-generation AMPA receptor positive allosteric modulator (PAM)—into Phase 2 trials for Major Depressive Disorder in 2025. Many congratulations, and more details are available on the Draig website.
UK out in force at BIO
The Draig news was a welcome boost to the UK contingent at the global BIO conference held in Boston last week. The UK, as the third-largest country group at the 21,000-person show, was out in force. We made sure everyone was aware of London Life Sciences Week with our excellent launch reception held on the UK stand, with Science Minister Patrick Vallance and London & Partners CEO Laura Citron.
Other highlights included signing an MoU with our Australian counterparts, introducing new MHRA Chief Executive Lawrence Tallon to key industry players, and exploring the key role that UK and Canadian SMEs play in pandemic preparedness innovation.
The mood of the delegation was positive yet realistic about the funding environment we are in, and I thought friend of the BIA, Mel Senior’s insightful article in Nature Biotechnology aptly captured the mood of the conversations I had around the Convention Centre.
Syncona repositions
Key UK life science investor Syncona announced last week that it is changing how it operates to take advantage of the Mansion House accords. The experienced and successful team plans to maximise value from the current portfolio over the medium term by focusing on the delivery of key value inflexion points, and at the same time, build a new private investment vehicle. Chris Hollowood, CEO of Syncona Investment Management Limited, commented:
We are confident in the long-term opportunity to continue creating and building companies leveraging world-class research and are working to explore the possibility of a new private vehicle for interested current shareholders and prospective new investors.
Good luck to all involved in this timely initiative.
BIA shaping new National Wealth Fund to back life sciences and engineering biology
BIA’s Director of Policy, Martin Turner, gave evidence to the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee’s National Wealth Fund inquiry last week, emphasising the importance of using the Fund’s £28.7 billion balance sheet to support both life sciences and engineering biology commercialisation. The Fund is intended to invest in infrastructure and companies close to market, providing welcome support for those that might be looking to make their first manufacturing investments.
BIA Chair Dan Mahony is also hosting a life sciences roundtable with the National Wealth Fund this week, giving us further opportunity to shape the strategy of this relatively new institution (it was launched by Rachel Reeves in July last year).
Read BIA’s written evidence.
Join us at the Summer Party
It’s great to be enjoying the British summer weather with many of you at our Life Science Leadership Summit in Hertfordshire, and I encourage everyone to book their ticket for our Summer Party in just two weeks’ time at the idyllic Inner Temple Gardens in the centre of London.
I hope to see you there.
