Siobhan Dennis
Guest Editor

https://doi.org/10.36866/pn.92.5

Welcome to the Physiology News Industry themed issue! We hope this issue will be of interest and helpful to a range of scientists, from those finishing their undergraduate degree to senior researchers. There is a wealth of opportunity for academics to collaborate and for partnerships with large pharmaceuticals and small enterprises to be created. Maybe this issue will even inspire exploration of an alternative career or even for you to start up your own biotech!

Pharmaceuticals and biotechs play a large role in the UK economy and the UK currently has the fourth largest pharmaceutical sector in the world (Government strategy plans 2012). About a seventh of the top 100 medicines in use today originated from research in this country – a record second only to that of the United States. As well as providing new medicines for many diseases, the pharmaceutical industry makes a substantial contribution to the British economy, providing income, employment and major investment. The pharmaceutical sector has, over the past decade, consistently generated a large trade surplus for the UK. Not only does this sector make a significant contribution to ‘UK PLC’ it is also responsible for employing thousands of people in the UK – mostly in highly skilled research and development roles. The industry also has numerous collaborations with university researchers and supported nearly 1000 pre- and post-doctoral students in 2011.

Despite the major achievements of the pharmaceutical and biotech industry in the UK, its future is less clear and probably less rosy. Life sciences industries have declined within the UK recently. This is a significant concern and in the long term results in the UK losing out on the benefits of future discoveries and on many employment opportunities. The loss of Pfizer from its Sandwich site, announced in 2011, was a sign of the difficult decisions faced by even the largest of the pharmaceutical companies in the face of patent expiry on some of their most successful drugs. There are also UK specific factors that have contributed to this decline, such as the length and cost of clinical trials in the UK and changes to the drug pricing system. Key to future investments in the UK by multinational pharmaceutical and biotech companies will be the availability of young biological scientists with excellent academic training in the skills needed to discover and develop new medicines. The health of the pharmaceutical industry in the UK is intimately linked to the quality of the training and education young life scientists receive in this country.

The way the pharmaceutical industry operates is changing. Companies can no longer rely on ‘blockbuster’ drugs such as Eli Lilly’s Zyprexia and Pfizer’s Lipitor. As the patents on these expire, companies face a cliff edge of falling income. In the face of these challenges the industry is evolving to new business models. There is more collaboration between companies such as the Innovative Medicines Initiative, which is a joint venture between the European Union and several companies of various sizes. Collaborations with academics are becoming more important and proving to be beneficial to all involved, resulting in rapid advancements. As large companies downsize their in-house research capabilities they are increasing their outsourcing activities, which provides a real opportunity for academic groups to forge new collaborations. The drive by industry to work much more closely with leading academic groups is illustrated by the relocation of some of Pfizer’s and AstraZeneca’s research activities to Cambridge and the establishment of a Research Park at the Glaxo site in Stevenage.

The need for new drugs has never been greater with an ageing population, epidemics of obesity and diabetes, stressful lifestyles and the emergence of resistant pathogens. We need to keep the UK attractive to pharmaceutical companies for research activities and we can support this by ensuring a steady supply of excellently trained graduate and postgraduate scientists and an academic sector that conducts world-class research and welcomes industrial collaborations.

Industry has incredible and unique working environments to offer and hopefully this issue will allow you to explore how pharmaceutical companies function, and perhaps what opportunities there are for you in the life sciences industry.