ABPI Conference 2024: Navigating a Path to Stability and Innovation in UK Pharma

ABPI Conference 2024

At the end of April, CHASE attended the annual Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) conference in London. The event hosted a wealth of industry leaders, policymakers, and experts to discuss the future of UK life sciences.

Talks from key stakeholders in government, industry and the NHS covered everything from creating stability in the industry and NHS, the evolving regulatory landscape, and the need for continued investment to drive innovation and ensure the UK remains a global leader.

Although it was a day crammed full of useful information, statistical nuggets and insights, there were some clear themes that ran throughout the event. We'll break down these and what they mean for pharma companies in the UK.

Collaboration between industry and NHS

There seemed to be unanimous agreement that the NHS is 'at capacity', and one of the big recurring themes was the exploration of effective strategies for collaborative problem-solving.

The pharmaceutical industry can play a vital role by actively seeking opportunities to contribute and support the NHS. Offering local solutions to the NHS will be an important part of building value and collaborating effectively - with the NHS now split into 42 'local' ICBs pharma companies should be asking, 'how can I help on a local level?' And, offering assistance and prioritising tasks to increase capacity at a local level.

Industry can play a HUGE role in spreading best practice and showing where early access to medicines is working well - work collaboratively with your NHS customers to create case studies and provide data (triangulating data from Industry.)

There was also a reiteration to be practical, helpful, action-orientated when engaging with ICSs and HCPs with clear understanding of challenges they’re facing.

Clinical research

Collaboration is helping to get new medicines to market – and on more predictable timescales and there was significant focus on increasing the number of clinical trials conducted in the UK. 

There were discussions on the implementation of the O’Shaughnessy report, which was commissioned in response to a significant dip in clinical trial activity between 2018 and 2021 (with the UK falling from 5th to 10th globally). The consensus was that the UK needs more – and more complex, diverse – clinical trials to be internationally competitive and for future governments to stick to this plan. 

The MHRA has made strides in improving efficiencies, however, clinical trial diversity needs to improve, and efforts are underway to make it easier for patients to participate in trials closer to home through initiatives like the NHS app and primary care integration. 

There were bright spots on clinical research, however. The UK has increased patients recruited by 15% in the last year. £300m funding from VPAG and the potential £3.5bn of funding to the NHS over next 5 years should see the number of trials increase further. 

The devolved nations are also keen to collaborate with the industry to run clinical trials, emphasising the potential for faster decision-making, diverse populations, and better access to shared data/patient records.

New product approvals

CEOs from MHRA, NICE, and NHS England discussed the need to speed up the approval process for new drugs, acknowledging the current 15+ month timeline at NICE and aiming for a 9-month target. Real World Evidence (RWE) is increasingly crucial in achieving this, with over 75% of new product applications now submitted with RWE.

MHRA, NICE, and NHSE are committed to working together to anticipate new medicines and address challenges early on, recognising that industry wants predictable timelines and improved existing processes. 

These bodies also want to  set up non-competitive meetings with multiple companies in the same therapy area to examine coming in the pipeline and what the impact might be on the NHS if implemented. Some new medicines they’ve reviewed could take up 60% of GP time, which just isn’t feasible. 

Additionally, they emphasised the importance of industry following processes efficiently and only submitting to MHRA and NICE when fully ready, stressing 95% of medicines can follow the standard processes.

VPAG (Voluntary Scheme for Pricing, Access & Growth)

This 5-year agreement between DHSC, NHS England, and ABPI was set up to support patient access to medicines, the financial sustainability of the NHS, and the UK life sciences sector. The scheme aims to favour new medicines and create a more sustainable environment for the UK life sciences sector.

While the post-pandemic landscape has been difficult for UK pharma, particularly in terms of access to Healthcare Professionals, public satisfaction in the NHS is at its lowest point in 40 years for the same reason, and it was stressed that the industry needs to be mindful of this.   

However, the uptick in UK Clinical trial investment was applauded as a 'ray of sunshine in an unprecedented, difficult time'.

The challenges in negotiating VPAG were acknowledged but the emphasis was squarely on its importance in providing stability and predictability for the industry. The government is monitoring the market's response to VPAG and is aware of some companies 'debranding' medicines.

AI in Pharma

There was palpable excitement and confidence in the potential of AI to lead to material positive changes for patients.  

AI has the potential to accelerate every step of the clinical trial process, from better identification of trial participants and site selection to personalised dosing and data collection. 

AI can be effective in personalising medicines and be used to predict patients who would benefit from intervention before symptoms start – this could both improve patient outcomes and relieve the massive drain on the economy (£300bn mental health, £100bn obesity, £50bn dementia). These benefits have been seen in oncology, where AI has been used to reduce 19 lung cancer variables to the 3 most relevant for GPs, enabling earlier identification and quicker referrals.  

However, the NHS's lack of technological readiness was a universal frustration, suggesting that AI implementation in the UK may lag behind other countries. The big enablers for further AI adoption is data and system readiness. The NHS needs to take the burden of patient records away from GPs and give to NHSE/the patient, and drive up consents from patients.

2024 is an election year - but stability must remain

With stability high on the agenda, both the Government Minister, Andrew Griffith and Labour front bencher, Chi Onwurah were keen to discuss their parties' commitment to the NHS and making the UK attractive to Pharma.