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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
UK government targets manufacturing as it eyes £41bn life science sector growth
The UK Government will enhance manufacturing and commercialisation as it looks to harness the value of the life sciences sector for the country's economy. In a new Life Sciences sector plan, the government outlined a six-point action plan to ensure the sector reaches its forecasted value increase of £41bn, representing a growth of 165% by 2035. The government is aiming to make the UK the leading life sciences economy in Europe, and third largest in the world behind only America and China. While excelling at research and development (R&D), the report outlines difficulties with commercialisation and adoption. For example, despite being the first country to approve a CRISPR-based medicine, Vertex and CRISPR Therapeutics' Casgevy for sickle cell anaemia is primarily commercialised overseas. In a bid to scale industry, the government has pledged £520m to improve life science manufacturing. Outlaid via the Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund (LSMIF), the investment will aim to expand the UK's manufacturing capabilities and supply chain security. The initiative comes at a crucial time, as British pharmaceutical companies are significantly increasing their investments in the United States. GSK invested $800m in drug substance and drug product manufacturing facilities in the US in October 2024. AstraZeneca – which has a market cap of £162bn – is reportedly plotting a move of its public listing to the US stock exchange in what would be a major blow to the UK economy. To facilitate the industry's expansion, the government will look to increase access to scale-up capital. There has been a cautious domestic investor base, leading to a lull in emerging companies with high economic outputs. The government will measure investment by the number of UK life science companies with a valuation of over £10bn, the number of companies on the FTSE 300, and the number of initial public offerings (IPOs) in the sector. From a regulatory standpoint, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and National Institute of Care and Excellence (NICE) will be supported to provide faster approvals and more efficient reimbursement. Optimism and criticism for UK life sciences MHRA's chief executive Lawrence Tallon welcomed the news, saying: 'It's great to see the MHRA is recognised as a pivotal partner in delivering the plan's vision - by supporting innovation, protecting public health, and making the UK a global destination for innovators to research, develop and launch cutting-edge medical products.' David Stockdale, chief executive of the British Healthcare Trades Association (BHTA) highlighted the importance of reducing regulatory and financial barriers to accelerate faster delivery of innovative MedTech solutions to patients. "We welcome today's announcement which rightly aims to make the UK a leading hub for investment and innovation in lifesaving MedTech, an essential step if we are to improve patient care and cut down waiting times. We particularly welcome the renewed commitments to the Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund and the NHS Innovator Passports. Our members are eager to deliver their innovative products and services to patients more quickly and efficiently, and we look forward to working with the Government to make this a reality. Clinical trials are set to benefit from the plan, with a new 150 day or lower target for trial set up times. Finally, up to £600m will be put towards an artificial intelligence (AI)-ready health data platform, a strategy already launched in April 2025. The BioIndustry Association (BIA) said: 'The life science sector plan is right to focus on getting substantially more public and private investment in early-stage companies, improved access to data, trials and skills to help companies grow, and more streamlined regulation and market access pathways to get innovative medicines to NHS patients.' However, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) commented that the plan falls short of investing in innovative medicines. Richard Torbett, Chief Executive of the ABPI, said: [The UK life sciences sector] has been struggling to remain competitive and attractive to investment. The solutions proposed are necessary and important, but they are not enough to turn around the UK's decline. 'The UK must address the core issue holding back the life sciences sector, the long-term disinvestment in innovative medicines that is increasingly preventing NHS patients from accessing medications that are available in other countries.' The life science sector plan comes hot on the heels of the 10-year health plan unveiled for the NHS earlier this month, which placed emphasis on technology and digitalisation. "UK government targets manufacturing as it eyes £41bn life science sector growth" was originally created and published by Pharmaceutical Technology, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
News.com.au
05-05-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Top 10 at 11: ASX dips in early trade despite surges in global markets
Morning, and welcome to Stockhead's Top 10 (at 11… ish), highlighting the movers and shakers on the ASX in early-doors trading. With the market opening at 10am sharp eastern time, the data is taken at 10:15, once trading kicks off in earnest. In brief, this is what the markets have been up to this morning. Strong gains in global markets on Friday have sown fertile ground for another day of progress on the ASX, following on from a decisive win for Labor in the Federal Election over the weekend. There were mixed movements in Mag7 stocks – Apple (-3.7%) and Amazon (-0.1%) both suffered from tariff impact-related falls. Moving in the other direction, Meta gained 4.3% and Nvidia 2.6%. Strong US jobs data coupled with positive signs in the US-China trade talks contributed to ease investor fears. All three major indices rose more than 1% in response. The Dow gained 1.4%, the Nasdaq 1.5%, and the S&P500 posted its ninth consecutive session of gains, lifting 1.5%. Over the week, the Dow added 3%, the Nasdaq 2.4% and the S&P500 2.9%. Euro stocks climb, oil and gold decline It was a similar story in Europe. Industrial and technology sector stocks were up more than 3% each, responding to similar movements in the US. The Euro FTSE300 surged 1.8%, and the UK FTSE100 jumped 1.2%. That broke the UK market's longest running streak of gains, marking fifteen consecutive sessions in the green. The FTSE300 gained 2.2% over the last five days, while the FTSE100 lifted 3%. Turning our attention to bellwether commodities, oil and gold are both still sliding. Brent crude fell 1.4% to US$61.29 a barrel, and gold 0.7% to US$3,243.30 an ounce. Oil prices are likely to remain under pressure in the coming week, as several OPEC+ members are expected to increase output, raising production by as much as 2.2 million barrels per day by November. Reuters has reported several members of OPEC+ will suggest oil output increases for a second consecutive month in June, with member states unwilling to continue to prop-up prices through production cuts. A softening of trade war fears drove some base metals up – copper futures rose 1% and aluminium 0.6% - but iron ore once again languished, slipping 1.1% to US$98.19 a tonne. ASX has a wobbly start to the day The ASX has gone for a dip in early morning trade, falling 0.21% as of about 11am AEST. Falling oil prices are weighing heavily on the Energy sector today, down more than 2% in the first hour of trading. Industrials (+0.77%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.67%), Real Estate (+0.36%) and Healthcare (+0.30%) are pulling in the other direction, but a fall in financial (-0.85%) and resource (-0.46%) stocks is weighing too heavily on the market at present. The ASX All Technology index is up 0.4%, bucking against the Info Tech sector's minor 0.04% dip. Now, onto our winners and laggards for the morning. WINNERS Code Description Last % Volume MktCap XPN Xpon Technologies 0.023 283% 35551212 $2,174,649 ANX Anax Metals Ltd 0.012 140% 32269127 $4,414,038 SPX Spenda Limited 0.008 60% 19338450 $23,076,077 AXP AXP Energy Ltd 0.0015 50% 254982 $6,574,681 RLL Rapid Lithium Ltd 0.003 50% 5051636 $2,489,889 KGD Kula Gold Limited 0.009 29% 474189 $6,448,776 EQX Equatorial Res Ltd 0.115 28% 118000 $11,830,082 CTN Catalina Resources 0.0025 25% 213317 $3,327,519 EVR Ev Resources Ltd 0.005 25% 81824 $7,943,347 NWM Norwest Minerals 0.016 23% 7368260 $6,306,554 Making news this morning… XPON Technologies (ASX:XPN) is riding higher after snapping up 100% of shares in Alpha Digital Design Consultants (Aust) Pty Ltd, a leading Australian digital marketing business and a long-term channel partner for XPN. XPON reckons Alpha Digital is an immediate value opportunity, having generated $4.6m in revenue and achieving an EBITDA of $700k (unaudited) in the last financial year. XPN will look to 'accelerate the AI transformation of Alpha Digital' to offer a wider range of AI solutions. A cornerstone investment of $3.3m into Anax Metals (ASX:ANX), coupled with a funding package of up to $103m, has set the company up for a day of positive trading. The convertible note investment from Mineral Development Partners Pte Ltd valued ANX shares at $0.015, a 200% premium to the company's current share price. MDP is also offering an investment package of up to $103m to earn an interest of up to 19.99% in ANX and up to 81.1% in its subsidiary, as Anax Metals develops the Whim Creek joint venture project. LAGGARDS Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap 88E 88 Energy Ltd 0.001 -33% 4462150 $43,400,718 BIT Biotron Limited 0.002 -33% 126478 $3,981,738 EEL Enrg Elements Ltd 0.001 -33% 151 $4,880,668 VML Vital Metals Limited 0.002 -33% 3921087 $17,685,201 ARN Aldoro Resources 0.25 -25% 3045491 $59,433,082 AON Apollo Minerals Ltd 0.012 -25% 10638119 $14,855,310 ERA Energy Resources 0.0015 -25% 70023 $810,792,482 AVE Avecho Biotech Ltd 0.004 -20% 4866757 $15,867,318 NC6 Nanollose Limited 0.035 -19% 261255 $10,749,239 NGS NGS Ltd 0.022 -19% 100000 $3,658,036
