CEO Update | 24 May 2021

Biomedical Catalyst receives new funding
Following a major campaign by the BIA to secure fresh funding for the Biomedical Catalyst, which many of you have supported, great news last week as the Government announced a £30m refill for a new round this year. Read our press release here and you can read more about the BIA’s decade-long campaign on the BMC, here.

Genome UK implementation plan

The Government last week announced a Genome UK implementation plan building on the Genome UK: the future of healthcare strategy that was published in 2020. The UK has a long legacy in genomic research and the Government is right to build on our global competitive advantage by committing to a series of actions to deliver on the ambitious vision set out in Genome UK. SMEs are the key drivers of the genomics industry's growth and will be essential delivery partners for this vision. Read the implementation plan, here.

Enabling access to vaccines worldwide

Last week an industry-wide letter was published laying out five steps to urgently advance COVID-19 vaccine equity. The statement called on manufacturers, governments and non-governmental organisations to work together to take urgent steps to address this inequity. Immediate action must focus on stepping up responsible dose sharing and maximizing production without compromising quality or safety, further detail can be read here. I reiterated this position to the BBC’s Newsnight programme where I appeared in a short segment, you can the piece from around 19 minutes here.

G7

Boris Johnson’s aim to use the G7 as a vehicle to build international understanding and capability for future pandemics is starting to take shape and on Friday of last week, a press release was issued announcing a Global Pandemic Radar. The WHO will lead an implementation group, supported by the Wellcome Trust, to launch this new international partnership to identify, track and share data on new coronavirus variants and monitor vaccine resistance in populations. Read the press release here.

BIA events

I was delighted to see the next generation of entrepreneurs join us for our inaugural BIA Start- up Festival last week where we heard from a variety of sector experts and where delegates were able to get first-hand advice on their entrepreneurial journey, recordings of the sessions are available to attendees on the Swapcard platform.

This week we are holding a procurement professionals seminar which will bring together a peer network, allowing procurement professionals to develop their companies’ processes as well as their own professional development, more details can be found here.