AstraZeneca president Chris Brinsmead: seeking to maintain the UK’s position in life sciences.
The UK Life Science Marketing Strategy Implementation Board, to be chaired by Chris Brinsmead, President of AstraZeneca, aims to maintain the UK’s position in life sciences, combating intense and growing global competition in this sector.
The healthcare sector of life sciences alone was worth £120 billion in 2006. The pharmaceuticals and biotechnology sector was the largest investor in R&D in the country.
Announcing the launch of the board, trade minister Digby Jones said, “The UK is Europe’s top R&D location, and a global hub for scientific research, but retaining this position in the face of growing competition from abroad is a significant challenge. The [new board] gives UK Life Sciences sector a new and powerful voice on the global stage.”
Brinsmead, said he became involved because he thinks the board can make a difference. “In the UK our pharmaceutical, healthcare and biotechnology businesses are hugely creative and dynamic with a long tradition of success. We are rightly number one in Europe, but in a world where business can invest anywhere around the globe, we have to work even harder to protect our status as a centre for R&D innovation for the future.”
Other members of the board include: Kevin Cox, former president of Avecia Ltd; Mark Ferguson, co-founder and CEO, Renovo plc; Jeremy Haigh, VP and international COO, Research and Development, Amgen; Chris Francis, chair of the UKTI Healthcare Sector Advisory Group and director of the UK India Business Council; Felicity Harvey CBE, head of Medicines, Pharmacy and Industry Steering Group, Department of Health; Andrew Hotchkiss, UK managing director, Eli Lilly; George Kennedy, chairman, Eschmann Equipment; and Andy Richards, biotechnology entrepreneur.
The board’s responsibilities include looking at which international territories will offer the greatest opportunity for UK business. It will also look to drive partnership and share resources between business, trade associations, cluster and research organisations, universities and government, to convince inward investors of the strengths of the UK as the location.
Receive the Funding Newswire each Tuesday, our Policy Bulletin each Thursday, and news about bridging Europe’s east-west innovation gap twice a month in The Widening. 
A unique international forum for public research organisations and companies to connect their external engagement with strategic interests around their R&D system.