The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) has released its annual report ‘the road to recovery for UK industry clinical trials’ (‘the report’). The report indicates a positive trend in the UK's clinical trials environment. The number of pharmaceutical industry trials initiated in the UK increased from 411 in 2022 to 426 in 2023, with the UK's global rankings improving to fourth for phase two trials and eighth for phase three trials. Recent legal and structural changes include the mandated use of standardised contracting and costing processes for National Health Service (NHS) research in England, and the establishment of the Research Delivery Network (RDN) in October 2024. The RDN, replacing the Clinical Research Network, aims to function as a more integrated system with enhanced site identification and account management services, whilst taking a proactive role in implementing the government's research streamlining initiatives. In response to the report, the Health Research Authority (HRA) has announced its collaboration with the  Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), in preparation to present new Clinical Trials regulations to Parliament, aimed at streamlining processes and reducing administrative burdens whilst maintaining participant protection.

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) has released a new report titled ‘How to make sure patients get faster, more equitable access to innovative treatments’, which explores the human cost of NHS decisions and processes that fail to ensure fair and timely patient access to clinical trials and proven treatments. The report focuses on three key stages- patient access challenges during the clinical stages of a medicine’s development, when the NHS adopts medicines after approval is given by regulators and at the point of patient access to treatment. This report builds on a previous ABPI and PwC report published in May 2022 that focused on 13 medicines in line with NICE recommendations across stroke prevention, kidney disease, asthma and type 2 diabetes and found that 1.2 million patients are missing out on innovative treatments.

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) has published an analysis revealing that the UK Treasury's Green Book methodology may prevent the country from capturing strategic life sciences investments. The Cambridge Economic Policy Associates (CEPA) report has found that the Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund's £520m capital grants scheme concentrates too narrowly on easily monetised benefits, neglecting broader economic impacts. CEPA recommends adopting a more comprehensive appraisal framework, increasing process transparency, and ensuring proportionate assessment timeframes. This analysis aligns with the Treasury's ongoing 2025 Green Book Review, which examines the evaluation of transformational changes.

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) has published its annual clinical trials report showing patient recruitment into UK industry clinical trials fell by 25% between 2022/23 and 2024/25, reaching its lowest level since 2017/18. The report indicates that only 27% of UK trial sites opened to recruitment within the government's 60-day target, and 41% recruited their first participant within 30 days, despite the Prime Minister's commitment to reduce clinical trial set-up times from 250 to 150 days. However, new industry trials initiated in the UK rose by 36% in 2024 to 578 trials, up from 426 in 2023, with the UK climbing to sixth place globally for phase III trial starts. The ABPI recommends that research delivery sites set higher recruitment targets, accelerate set-up times, ensure executive-level accountability for clinical trials across the NHS, and maximise opportunities from the £300m VPAG Clinical Trials Investment Programme to address competitive pressures from other nations including China and Spain.

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) has reported that the Voluntary Scheme for branded medicines pricing, access and growth (VPAG) now requires pharmaceutical companies to pay between 23.5% and 35.6% of UK revenue from branded medicine sales to the Department of Health and Social Care. This represents an increase from £590m in total payments during 2021 to £3.5bn in 2025. The current UK rates significantly exceed those of comparable European markets, where rates range from 5.7% in France to 7.5% in Spain.

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) has published a review of the effect of the full implementation of the Windsor Agreement for drug approval. The ABPI observes that the Windsor Framework introduces a two-category system for medicines in the UK from 1 January 2025, with Category 1 medicines becoming UK national licences regulated by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), and Category 2 medicines remaining subject to certain EU requirements. The APBI deems this reclassification complex due to potential regulatory divergence over time, especially for companies with diverse portfolios. Also, while many changes do not apply to existing products, the ABPI notes that, from 2025, medicines will require ‘UK Only’ labelling to prevent inadvertent flow to the EU. The ABPI and others advocated for the introduction of flexibilities to support the transition, including early release of ‘UK only’ labelled products to the UK market (excluding Northern Ireland), updating products through procedures that delay parts of the process by 12 months to ease regulatory burden, and completing labelling updates through UK-licensed repacking sites. The MHRA is updating guidance with trade associations’ support, and the ABPI continues to assist member companies.

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) has expressed its views that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) should immediately review the severity modifier to adjust downwards the cut-off levels used to determine the degree of severity in order for more medicines to benefit. The ABPI also said that it would like to see NICE replace the opportunity cost-neutral approach to implementing the modifier with an approach that is evidence-based and better reflects societal preferences for helping people with severe disease to access innovative treatments. In February 2022, NICE introduced the severity modifier to provide an additional weighting to the value of some medicines which treat more severe conditions, thus replacing an ‘end-of-life' modifier that supported access to some treatments for cancer patients with short life expectancies. The ABPI argues that sticking to this strict rule of being opportunity-cost neutral is not necessary because the pharmaceutical industry capped the NHS medicines bill as set out in the medicines pricing scheme agreed between government and the pharmaceutical industry, called the Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access. The ABPI further asserts that by allowing for deviation from opportunity cost neutrality, the NHS could potentially deliver broader access to newer, more effective treatments for severe conditions, better reflecting the value that patients place on these treatments.

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) has urged the UK government to increase investment in commercial clinical trials, following a report it released which highlighted that the clinical trials industry brought in £7.4bn gross value added to the UK economy in 2022. The report noted that this new investment will bring £3bn in economic growth, create 26,000 new jobs, attract more commercial clinical trials from global pharmaceutical companies and will enable faster access to new treatments as more clinical trials will help avoid three million sick days.

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) has expressed concern over the unexpectedly high Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access (VPAG) payment rate of 22.9% for 2025. ABPI has warned that this rate, significantly above expectations, could jeopardise UK pharmaceutical industry growth and investment. The organisation is urgently collaborating with the government to understand the factors driving these rates and to explore ways to restore the UK's international competitiveness in the sector.

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) has published its response to the Department of Health and Social Care's March 2025 consultation on increasing statutory scheme payment rates for branded medicines. The consultation proposes raising rates from 15.5% to 32.2% of NHS sales for the second half of 2025. ABPI warns these rates, alongside existing Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing, Access and Growth (VPAG) payments, significantly exceed similar mechanisms in France (5.7%) and Germany (7%), potentially undermining UK pharmaceutical investment.

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