6 August 2025

By Prof Graham Lord, Executive Director, King’s Health Partners 

The UK Government’s recently launched Life Sciences Sector Plan is significant for our sector. It outlines a bold, long-term commitment to harnessing British science and innovation to drive economic growth and transform people’s health.  

As Executive Director of King’s Health Partners (KHP) and Chief Academic Officer at King’s College London, I’m pleased to see the plan place research, innovation and partnership at its core.  

But this is not a moment for passive endorsement. The plan and conversations since its publication are clear: It is up to us to develop and deliver the action plan that will turn its promising vision into reality.

Ambitions 

The plan was developed in alignment with the government’s 10 Year Health Plan and sets out a roadmap to the UK being a global leader in life sciences by 2035. It is divided into three interconnected pillars: 

  1. Driving health innovation and NHS reform by ensuring patients get rapid access to the most clinically and cost-effective technologies  
  2. Enabling world-class research and development to take advantage of and build on the UK’s scientific strengths 
  3. Making the UK an outstanding place to start, grow, scale and invest in life sciences 

To deliver on these pillars, the plan outlines six key areas that focus on unlocking NHS data with AI, reducing clinical trial set up time to under 150 days, removing regulatory red tape to give industry a clearer route to market, introducing an NHS Innovator Passport to help innovations reach patients faster, an injection of funds into innovation manufacturing, and a focus on partnerships with industry that will drive economic growth and innovation.  

Its promise lies in its recognition that innovations must be activated by partnership between academia, healthcare, industry and communities. That’s where university health partnerships like King’s Health Partners – and through the SC1 London health and life sciences innovation district –  will play a critical role.  

Playing our part 

The plan mirrors the strategic priorities we’ve set at King’s Health Partners – for example accelerating translational research through the KHP Centre of Translational Medicine, fast-tracking the implementation of digital health technologies through the London Institute for Healthcare Engineering, and building a resilient, skilled clinical academic workforce with education and training, for example through King’s Clinical Academic Training Office or the KHP Learning Hub.  

As outlined in our recent report with the Policy Institute, research-active hospitals consistently deliver better outcomes. Embedding research and innovation into clinical practice will be essential for a reimagined health and care system that delivers change. The plan rightly recognises this and we must now ensure policy and performance frameworks are put in place to hold us all accountable. 

Coordinated action 

The Life Sciences Sector Plan is ambitious and focusses on the right things. But ambition alone won’t deliver change. We need coordinated action, clear accountability and a relentless focus on impact. 

At King’s Health Partners, we’re ready to play our part. We’ll work with government, industry, and our communities to turn strategy into delivery. We’ll share what works and what doesn’t. And we’ll advocate for inclusive innovations that ensure the benefits of life sciences reach every corner of our population.