All-Party Parliamentary Group for Life Sciences Relaunches

The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Life Sciences, aimed at raising awareness of the United Kingdom’s life sciences among parliamentarians and to explore the challenges and opportunities facing the sector, was relaunched on Feb. 27, 2020.

According to a press release from the UK BioIndustry Association (BIA), the APPG for Life Sciences will continue to be chaired by Daniel Zeichner, who is the member of parliament (MP) for Cambridge, UK. “I am delighted to continue as chair of this APPG, which will have a key role in highlighting to parliamentarians the valuable contribution our world-leading life sciences sector makes to the nation’s health and wealth,” Zeichner said in a press release. “Over the next year, the APPG will work with my colleagues on both sides of the House consider how we can best ensure that we enable the sector to bring exciting new technologies and treatments to our constituents, while also boosting the UK economy.”

Zeichner and the other parliamentary members of the group-Chris Green (MP for Bolton West), Anthony Browne (MP for South Cambridgeshire), Lord Patel, and Jerome Mayhew (MP for Broadland)-were joined by industry experts following the general election to discuss how parliamentarians, government, and industry can work together to ensure patients and the economy benefit from innovation in life sciences.

“The life sciences sector employs over 250,000 people in the UK and two-thirds of these highly skilled jobs are outside the South East. The life sciences sector will have a crucial role in supporting the government’s ambitions to unleash British science and increase investment in R&D,” added Green in the press release. “As vice-chair of the APPG, I look forward to enabling parliamentarians and industry to work together to achieve our common goal of making the UK a global hub for life sciences.”

“The UK has an incredible legacy in life sciences and has a strong global competitive advantage,” said Browne, in the press release. “I’m excited about taking up this role as vice-chair of the APPG to support UK life sciences entrepreneurs all around the country who are working hard to harness the power of biology to improve patients’ lives and deliver cost-savings for our NHS.”

Source: BIA