UK Medicines Manufacturing Skills Centre Stresses Skill Development after Budget Announcement

Members of academia and industry in the United Kingdom are highlighting the need for training within the pharma manufacturing field after Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, announced in the Autumn Budget that there will be £520 million (US$675 million) made available to develop drug manufacturing capabilities in the UK (1). The budgetary funding allocation will begin with an increase in manufacturing capacity so that the UK can better respond to healthcare emergencies. But some are saying that the funds would be better suited in training of personnel.

“This announcement in the Budget to support life sciences is a welcome step for the UK medicines manufacturing sector,” said Professor Ivan Wall, co-director of Resilience, the UK’s first Medicines Manufacturing Skills Centre of Excellence, in a press release (2). “However, there is an acute skills shortage that must be addressed to ensure we have trained staff ready to work in the sector.”

Resilience, which was created to address the shortage of skills in the pharmaceutical industry within the UK, is a two-year project funded by the Office for Life Sciences in the UK Government’s Department for Science, Innovation & Technology that is managed through Innovate UK. The center’s interest, as would be expected, is to ensure that talent is being focused on. Resilience will be providing industry training courses that address issues such as digital technology, artificial intelligence, data analysis, and environmental sustainability. The center will be partnering with universities across the UK to develop the program, which will include in-person and remote training courses for advanced laboratory and manufacturing skills at the academic level.

“A major consideration for success in building this capability will be in ensuring a strong supply of talent to maximize productivity across new facilities,” said Wall in the release. “Talent is in short supply across the UK Life Sciences sector and that is where projects like Resilience can help, by building the ecosystem to maintain a strong, internationally competitive sector and ensure patients have access to the best drugs through the NHS [National Health Service].”

Sustainability is also a goal of the center. “There is a great opportunity to design with environmental sustainability principles embedded,” Wall said. “Around 25% of NHS emissions are in the supply chain, so our approach using VR [virtual reality] training will reduce plastics and other waste, helping the industry deliver net zero medicines manufacturing.”

References

1. HM Treasury. Autumn Budget 2024: Fixing the Foundations to Deliver Change. Report (October 2024).

2. Resilience. UK’s Medicines Manufacturing Skills Centre Welcomes Budget’s £520 million for Manufacturing but Says the Priority Must be Skills Development. Press Release. Nov. 6, 2024.