UK life sciences attracts £3bn investment, creating jobs and faster patient treatments

Life Sciences sector attracts over £3 billion in new public-private investment in 12 months, reflecting international confidence in UK science and innovation.

Communities across the country are benefitting from new treatments and advances as a result of the government’s Life Sciences Sector Plan.  

In the first year the Plan has helped attract £3billion of investment, deliver new medicines and cut waiting times for the approval of life-saving treatments. 

This is helping to give patients access to transformative new treatments, like the world’s first-ever immunotherapy for type 1 diabetes, which was approved for use by the NHS in England and Wales just last month. 

Overall, the average wait time to set up clinical trials has dropped from 169 to 122 days in the first half of 2025 to 2026 and patients are also expected to get new medicines up to 6 months sooner under the new joint MHRA-NICE approval process.

Major private investments are creating hotbeds of innovation and revitalising regional economies up and down the country.

These include a £300 million backing from AstraZeneca to support its operations in its Cambridge headquarters and a facility in Macclesfield using AI to discover new drugs, Moderna opening its new innovation centre in Harwell with a £1 billion UK R&D investment commitment over the next 10 years, and UCB’s £500 million investment in a new world-class R&D hub in Windlesham, Surrey, which is developing a range of transformative medicines for immunological diseases.