A bold new vision to make the UK a world leader in biosciences to challenge the US by 2015 has been unveiled by a joint government and biotech industry group.

A National Clinical Trials agency to promote excellence in clinical trials and closer NHS and industry collaboration is among the key recommendations from the in-depth report by the Bioscience Innovation and Growth Team (BIGT)

The in-depth report from the BIGT Improving National Health, Increasing National Wealth, includes a number of strategic ideas to improve the competitiveness of UK biosciences R&D.

In a foreword to the report Prime Minister Tony Blair said the UK biosciences industry faces an exciting future in revolutionising disease diagnosis, treatment and prevention and the NHS could be among the first to benefit from the advances.

"Both patients and R&D based companies would benefit, for example, if more clinical trials of new treatments were done in the NHS, but it will not happen unless the government, industry and health service work together to get the structures right."

The new collaboration builds on work done by the Pharmaceutical Industry Competitiveness Taskforce, but the government has gone one better by already setting up the permanent Bioscience Leadership Council (BIC) to co-ordinate efforts.

Meanwhile another working group, headed by Sir John Pattison, head of NHS R&D has received £10 million in funding to develop practical plans to maximise the benefit to patients of research conducted within the NHS. The BIGT's six key recommendations:

• Build a mutually advantageous collaboration between the NHS and industry for patient benefit through the creation of a National Clinical Trials Agency (NCTA). The NCTA, sponsored by the Department of Health (DoH) in collaboration with Research Councils UK, should support excellence in clinical trials and clinical research within the NHS.
• Create a public and regulatory environment supporting innovation. This includes improving regulatory support for the development, approval and use of innovative medicines in the UK, through effective collaboration between industry, regulatory agencies and government.
• Ensure sufficient and appropriate funding is available. This includes supporting measures to improve the liquidity of bioscience companies, through adjusting pre-emption rights and corporate ventures, and investing in the ridgebetween idea generation and commercial financing.
• Build a strong bioprocessing sub-sector, through the creation of a network of bioprocessing centres of excellence across the UK. These centres would deliver skilled personnel, develop leading edge research and promote the UK as a target for inward investment.
• Develop, attract and retain a high quality scientific and managerial talent base, through two new programmes to support dual, interdisciplinary education essential to the bioscience sector.
• Create the Bioscience Leadership Council (BLC) composed of six industry representatives and strategic stakeholders. The BLC will take responsibility for implementing and building on the BIGT recommendations and will provide a forum for government and industry to work together to develop a successful bioscience industry.

Sir Richard Sykes, former chairman of GlaxoSmithKline and currently rector of science, technology and medicine at Imperial College has been appointed as the chair of the BLC.

To read the full report, visit: http://www.bioindustry.org/bigtreport/index2.html