The UK is on course for a huge rise in preventable illness. The Health Foundation charity predicts that by 2040, one in five adults will be living with a serious condition, such as cancer, dementia or heart disease. Meanwhile, economic activity is stagnating, with roughly 2.8 million people currently out of work due to ill health, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.
Our world-leading life sciences sector has the capacity to help reverse this trend. In 2021 alone, it contributed £43.3bn to the UK economy, and supported 646,000 jobs. With the right investment, it could add an additional £68bn to GDP over the next 30 years, create 85,000 more jobs and result in a 40 per cent decrease in disease burden across the UK.
This episode, in partnership with professional services firm PwC, explores how greater investment into vital disease areas such as cancer, obesity and immunology could make British society physically and financially healthier.
Emma Haslett is joined by Chi Onwurah, the shadow minister for science, research and innovation; Dr Dan Mahony, chair of the UK BioIndustry Association (BIA) and the government’s life sciences investment envoy; and Stephen Aherne, pharmaceutical and life sciences leader at PwC UK.
If you enjoyed this podcast you can find more of Spotlight's policy reporting in our standalone Spotlight podcast feed, or at newstatesman.com/spotlight
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