BRIEF—UK Lords to continue life sciences enquiry, questioning US pharma reps

24 November 2017

The UK House of Lords Science and Technology Committee will continue taking evidence for its inquiry into Life Sciences and the Industrial Strategy on Tuesday November 28. The Committee will question academics and representatives of the American Pharmaceutical Group.

This week, the Committee will hear the views of the US pharmaceutical industry on why some pharmaceutical companies have moved out of the UK in recent years and question leading academics on why it is difficult for the UK to match the success of the US in the life sciences sector.

The second session will seek evidence from the following industry representatives of US drug majors:

Erik Nordkamp, chairman American Pharmaceutical Group and managing director Pfizer UK:
Mark Hicken, vice chairman APG and UK managing director, Janssen, part of Johnson & Johnson; and
Louise Houson, UK managing director, MSD, the local subsidiary of Merck & Co.

Questions the witnesses are likely to face include:

How likely is it that the UK can meet the goal of four companies in life sciences with market capitalisation of £20 billion ($26.6 billion) in the next 10 years?
What impact is the relocation of the European Medicines Agency from London likely to have?
How would you describe the current relationship between the NHS and industry?