The jury seems to be out on how effective the U.K.’s new strategy for enhancing its competitiveness in biopharma will be, if a recent GEN poll is any evidence. More than one-third of respondents (35.6%) said they didn't think the plan would do very much, though more than half gave the strategy better marks by predicting it would be “a great deal” effective (25.4%) or “somewhat” effective (28.8%). The remaining 10.2% of respondents were undecided.
Prime Minister David Cameron recently unveiled “Strategy for UK Life Sciences” with the intent of shepherding more biopharma companies to market and keeping them growing. The strategy calls for the U.K. to launch a £180 million ($278.6 million) fund to push startup companies past the “valley of death,” a £130 million ($201.2 million) personalized medicine research fund, and a £50 million ($77.4 million) cell therapy technology center among other components. The strategy also promises a new initiative to speed up approvals of new drugs.