Event Summary

Attend Westminster Insight’s timely, innovative, cross-cutting Life Sciences Forum, taking place in London on Wednesday, 29th April 2026.

With an expert keynote from Dame Chi Onwurah, Chair of the Science, Innovation, and Technology Select Committee, our thoroughly researched and knowledge-led practical event examines key aspects of the Government’s Life Sciences Sector Plan, a major component of its Plan for Change. The Government’s ambitious policies are aimed at driving improvements in healthcare, focussing on innovation and research, to deliver economic growth in the process. So, how can the UK become a ‘life sciences superpower’?

Life Science is worth £108 billion to the economy, providing over 300,000 highly skilled jobs across the country. Life sciences, which affect everyone, span the NHS and community, industry, government, science, education, and much more. From research and development, to medicine, to AI, the opportunities and challenges are manifold, as have been the Government’s announcements in the last six months.

The Prime Minister, in April, announced action to accelerate the discovery of life-saving drugs, improve patient care and medical research, and create a health data research service, fast track clinical trials, and introduce vital drugs sooner; in May, £1billion BioNTech investment, new research and AI centres, and development of life changing medicines was announced; and, in August, a £400m investment to  boost clinical trial participation, sustainable manufacturing, and horizon scanning was announced. Innovation, in partnership, and at pace.

Big ambitions, and a critical part of the Government’s Industrial Strategy. How is it all to be achieved?

With key milestones and deadlines from March 2026, how will policies be funded, and coordinated? What will the new processes and organisations look like? How can the public sector work successfully in partnership with the pharmaceutical industry?

We will tackle issues such as drug pricing, relationship management, and attracting and engaging your workforce. The UK will need 145,000 new and replacement jobs in life sciences over the next decade for the country to maintain its leadership in the sector, according to recent report. It will also need a “a more varied range of skills than ever before”, says the Futures Group. How can this be achieved? We’ll spotlight investment in universities, research, and spin-off organisations, to help build capacity.

Join us, at our collaborative and cross-cutting inaugural Life Sciences Forum, and learn about innovative strategies, hear from focussed case studies, panel sessions, and senior expert spotlights. You will learn more about effective partnership working through collaborative joint sessions. Engage with peers, practitioners, and specialists, from the NHS, academia and education, the science community, government, industry, and community groups.

Key Points

  • Next steps for the Government’s 10-year Life Sciences Sector Plan
  • Learn more about the Government’s Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund.
  • Hear about the Government and Wellcome Trust joint working, their new health data research service, and how it’s designed to transform access to NHS data.
  • We’ll examine how we introduce ‘gold standard’ security and privacy measures for data via a secure single access point to national data sets, cutting red tape for researchers.
  • We will discuss innovation with drugs and AI; and examine how we tackle huge health issues with new drugs, such as for dementia.
  • We will look at the new fast-tracked clinical trials and how the time it takes to get a clinical trial set up will be cut from 250 to 150 days by March 2026. How will we cut bureaucracy, standardise contracts, and ensure transparency for the new targets?
  • Understand how the new strategies can improve patient care. How do we ensure patient safety, with accelerated methods of discovering life-saving drugs?
  • We’ll discuss how we attract and develop our life sciences workforce, to ensure the UK is the world leader in research and development?
  • We will spotlight PPPs and working in partnership with organisations such as the ABPI; and investment through the Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicine Pricing, Access and Growth (VPAG) programme.
  • We’ll look at drug pricing and overcoming barriers with pharmaceuticals. How is pricing negotiated in the context of a constrained NHS budget?
  • We will examine the House of Lords report, ‘bleeding to death’, citing issues of resource, expertise, and business going abroad; and prohibitive visa costs here.
  • You will hear of strategies to build capacity in life sciences skills and expertise, through the Oxford-Cambridge Corridor and utilising research and academia.
  • We’ll spotlight innovation and specific funding-backed projects in universities and centres for excellence, e.g, Forging ahead/Forging beyond, and BRITE.