Office for Life Sciences

The Office for Life Sciences (OLS), led by Lord Drayson, minister for science and innovation and founder of a biotech company, was set up in 2009 to develop measures to "improve the operating environment for UK life science companies".Deborah Cohen, Innovative drugs will bypass NICE approval process to build cost effective data, BMJ 2009;339:b2887, 15 July 2009 (subscription req'd to view full article)
The OLS, in collaboration with representatives of the life sciences industry, academia, the NHS, and several government departments over a six month period, set up an initiative called The Life Sciences Blueprint, which, according to an article in the BMJ, has been described by 
representatives of different life science industries as a "major milestone."Deborah Cohen, Innovative drugs will bypass NICE approval process to build cost effective data, BMJ 2009;339:b2887, 15 July 2009 (subscription req'd to view full article) 
The BMJ article states that the Life Sciences Blueprint has come up with the idea of fast-tracking new drugs so that they do not have to go through the usual approvals process of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE):
:Innovative drugs will be approved for NHS use without having first gone through the appraisal process of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), as part of a drive to stimulate the United Kingdom’s life sciences industry.Deborah Cohen, Innovative drugs will bypass NICE approval process to build cost effective data, BMJ 2009;339:b2887, 15 July 2009 (subscription req'd to view full article)
The BMJ article describes other measures outlined in the blueprint, including 
:a strategic health authority delivery group to improve the uptake of innovative drugs and technologies. It will also be charged with improving the "engagement between industry and the NHS." David Nicholson, chief executive of the NHS, will review incentives, including payment by results, to accelerate the uptake of medical technologies.Deborah Cohen, Innovative drugs will bypass NICE approval process to build cost effective data, BMJ 2009;339:b2887, 15 July 2009 (subscription req'd to view full article)
"Life sciences" in connection with pharmaceuticals generally means genetically engineered drugs. Such drugs have been beset with unexpected problems whenever they have been introduced. See, for example, the catastrophic "elephant man" drugs trial, in which six healthy young men suffered multiple organ failure after being given an experimental GM drug.Six taken ill after drug trials, BBC News, 15 March 2006, accessed 20 July 2009 In addition, GM insulin has been implicated in allegations of serious side-effects.Recommendations On Animal Insulin—the Bellagio Report, DiabetesHealth website, 1 July 1996, accessed 20 July 2009 There would seem to be no good argument for fast-tracking GM drugs into use and many good arguments for increasing, not decreasing, precaution.
Drayson's previous role as head of the BioIndustry Association and his ownership of the vaccine company PowderJect raise questions of conflicts of interest in any move to fast-track GM drugs.
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Category:GMCategory:Big Pharma