{"id":261,"date":"2017-11-08T15:27:36","date_gmt":"2017-11-08T15:27:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/policy-engagement\/?p=261"},"modified":"2019-02-07T15:05:08","modified_gmt":"2019-02-07T15:05:08","slug":"improving-the-effectiveness-of-the-uks-medical-innovation-ecosystem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/policy-engagement\/improving-the-effectiveness-of-the-uks-medical-innovation-ecosystem\/","title":{"rendered":"Improving the effectiveness of the UK\u2019s medical innovation ecosystem"},"content":{"rendered":"

In light of the Life Sciences Industrial Strategy\u2019s ambitious goals, Dr Michael Hopkins<\/a> (SPRU \u2013 Science Policy Research Unit) sets out to examine the strengths and weaknesses of the UK\u2019s medical innovation ecosystem in a new policy brief<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Drawing on research findings published in his book Science, the State and the City<\/em><\/a> (Owen, Hopkins. 2016), Dr Hopkins looks at the success of US biotech firms to understand where the UK\u2019s life sciences industry is falling short.<\/p>\n

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One of the Life Science Strategy\u2019s aims \u2013 over the next ten years \u2013 is to develop four companies within the sector with a market capitalisation in excess of \u00a320bn. But Hopkins\u2019 and Owen\u2019s book reveals that the UK has generated only one such firm since 1980.<\/p>\n

The research finds that a combination of factors have made the US a uniquely supportive environment for biotech firms (in comparison to the UK), including:<\/p>\n