Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential for AI technologies to accelerate drug discovery and development; and what steps they are taking to support innovation, investment and adoption in the NHS and UK life sciences sector.

Researchers in the UK are already pioneering AI-driven applications in drug discovery, and we are taking steps to capture the opportunities this presents. Backed by up to £137m of investment, DSIT's AI for Science Strategy recently launched government's first AI for Science Mission, which will focus on harnessing the technology to accelerate drug discovery and deploy new treatments faster. The Sovereign AI Unit also provided seed funding to the OpenBind consortium to generate foundational protein-ligand structural data to power the next era of AI for drug design.

The Life Sciences Sector Plan and 10-Year Health Plan set out our vision to harness UK science and support adoption of innovation throughout the NHS to drive better health. For example, the Health Innovation Network plays a vital role in connecting innovators with NHS systems and supporting health and social care teams to identify, test and implement new solutions at scale - having already supported over 4.9 million patients.

Across the board, our plans also strengthen investment opportunities and partnerships across data, discovery and clinical trials to drive a thriving UK life sciences sector. This is demonstrated most recently by Boehringer Ingelheim’s investment of £150 million in King’s Cross to build capacity in AI and Machine Learning.

Finally, the launch of the Single National Formulary will play a key role in supporting equitable access and adoption of the most clinically and cost-effective medicines across England.