Britain's life sciences plan gets mixed reception from pharma industry

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain launched a life sciences sector plan on Wednesday to a mixed response from the pharmaceutical industry, which welcomed proposals to boost R&D but warned it would fail to keep firms competitive unless there was a deal on drug pricing.

Life sciences is one of eight priority sectors under a new industrial strategy launched by the government last month, but the publication of a sector-specific plan was delayed as the pharma industry and government failed to agree a deal on how much revenue from UK sales firms must return to the country's health service.

Industry figures have voiced dissatisfaction with Britain's tough pricing regime which they say prioritises low costs over investing in innovation and securing access to the latest medicine.

While there was still an impasse on drug pricing, the government released the sector plan, which noted "intense competition for investment" and pledged to reform the regulation of medicine so more drugs get to the state-run National Health Service quicker.

However, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) said the plan was "not enough to turn around the UK's decline" and Britain still needed to address "the long-term disinvestment in innovative medicines."

"For too long, the UK has sought to be the place where innovation happens, but not the place where it is used," said Richard Torbett, chief executive of the ABPI.

The government cited supportive comments from pharma firms GSK, Moderna and BioNTech for its plan, even as industry sources said the unresolved drug-pricing talks were an "elephant in the room."

AstraZeneca, the UK stock market's most valuable company, was not quoted in support of the sector plan in the government's statement. Earlier this month, the company declined to comment on a Times report that it was considering shifting its stock market listing to the United States.

Tony Wood, chief scientific officer at GSK, said he welcomed reforms to incentivise more clinical trials and create a new lab network to accelerate drug discovery and development.

But a GSK spokesperson added it was "critical that the UK also takes action with this new plan to recognise the value of innovative new medicines and vaccines for patients."

Torbett said ABPI was in the "final stages of an intensive discussion" on drug pricing, to "get these issues out of the way and allow our sector to deliver on its potential."

(Reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by Bernadette Baum)