Health: Medical Innovation

Lord Ryder of Wensum Excerpts

Wednesday 16th January 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ryder of Wensum]

My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend on the clarity and strength of his speech. I am conscious of the medical distinction of many noble Lords here tonight; I participate as a layman.

For the past eight years I have chaired the Institute of Cancer Research, an organisation driven by innovation. The institute, a college of the University of London, employs about 800 scientists from more than 40 countries. According to the Times Higher, we came top of the most recent research assessment exercise. We prize a global-leading drug discovery unit and are proud that over the past six years alone, 16 of our drugs have been nominated as candidates for development. Two months ago, an innovation debate took place at the Royal Society. Professor Paul Workman, head of cancer therapeutics at the institute and the RSC’s entrepreneur of the year, was a speaker. He argued that, although we are making strides against cancer, we are failing to convert our knowledge into outcomes. To be precise, our knowledge of the genomes of cancer cells should be allowing us to develop targeted therapies for patients—what is known as personalised medicine.

There are many reasons why we are not advancing at greater speed. Biotech companies are diminishing because venture capitalists demand profits in three years, when in our sphere it is often a struggle to achieve results within a decade. Pharmaceutical companies should be switching from blockbuster drugs to personalised medicines targeted on small patient groups based on cancer genes, but we suffer from the fact that these pharmaceutical companies are also enduring an era of change, which is typified by the theme of next month’s Pharma Summit in London—namely, “Should pharma cut its losses and get out of R&D?”.

How can we turn our knowledge into targeted drugs? How can we bridge this innovation chasm? The commendable Strategy for UK Life Sciences, which was produced by the Government, urged us to develop infrastructures that connect academics, industry, investors, clinicians and the NHS. Thanks partly to a long-standing relationship with our sister organisation, the Royal Marsden Hospital, that is our model. It has worked well for years in terms of innovation and outcomes. It is vital for it to be taken up in as many places and as many fields as possible.

We also require more investment in drug discovery and development carried out by non-profit groups, especially early-stage drug projects that are too risky for industry and can be advanced quickly only in the lab and with patients. In addition, we require further re-evaluation of regulations and pricing. Patients must have earlier access to drugs. I am told by institute clinicians working in the Royal Marsden that the European clinical trials directive handicaps their work and impedes innovation. The Minister will know that, unfortunately, clinical trials carried out in the UK, as a percentage of the world total, have fallen from 6% to 1.4% during the past 10 years.

Drug discovery and development is the UK’s leading innovation-based business. It is the UK’s most successful manufacturing industry in terms of the surplus it provides for the balance of payments. However, expenditure does not necessarily correlate with inventiveness. I have always upheld the Schumpeter line that innovation is the critical part of economic change, yet Governments have a duty to create the right climate for innovators, and they have plenty yet to do.