LSIPR 50 2016: Xi Jinping and George Freeman

Names: Xi Jinping and George Freeman
Organisations: Chinese government and UK government
Positions: President of China and UK minister for life sciences

Xi Jinping was elected to the post of general secretary of the Communist Party in 2012 and president of China in 2013. During his visit to London in 2015, Jinping signed a £2 billion ($2.8 billion) deal with the UK minister for life sciences George Freeman. Under the collaboration, Chinese and UK companies will work together to further “research, hospital construction, training, diagnostics and drug discovery” in both countries.

One agreement is the UK-China Technology Fund, which provides £50 million in financing for technology from UK institutions that can be commercialised in the Chinese market, with the money paying for further research and development in the UK. In addition, Upper Biotech agreed to invest £2.4 million in Microtest in order to research and develop technology covering point of care in vitro diagnostics.

Although this agreement was only between two nations, the investment in life sciences should have a global effect.

Before undertaking his role in 2014, Freeman worked as a government life sciences adviser from 2011 to 2013. He has had a successful career across the life sciences sector, working with hospitals, patient groups, clinical researchers, and biomedical research companies. He also helped pioneer novel healthcare innovations.

Freeman is responsible for the cancer research fund, medicines and industry, regenerative medicine, research and development, specialised commissioning and the uptake of new drugs and medical technology. In a blog post in January 2015, posted on conservative news website Conservative Home, he outlined that in his role as minister for life sciences he would be “taking the fight to diseases like dementia that blight the lives of so many”.

During his tenure Freeman hopes to introduce technology into the National Health Service and other practices. He spoke to news website Politics Home in 2015 about his aim for a “tangible digital breakthrough” where patients will be able to book appointments using iPads. He is hoping for a “quiet revolution in transparency and accountability.”

At the beginning of 2016, Freeman wrote an article in newspaper City AM where he outlined that parliament had committed a £6.9 billion investment into the life sciences framework up until 2021. “We have a unique opportunity to drive a new cycle of long-term growth. But to do that we must enable the collaboration of government with the public and the City to help innovative bio-science companies export their expertise to the emerging market that needs them,” he wrote.

(Image: Frederic Legrand - COMEO / Shutterstock.com)

Freeman spoke to LSIPR to explain more about his work.

What does your role entail?

My core mission is to harness the unique potential of the UK’s national health system and clinical research infrastructure to make the UK a powerhouse in 21st century life sciences. The life sciences sector is being transformed by globalisation and profound technical and commercial changes, to which the UK must react.

Central to that is developing a more integrated healthcare innovation economy that harnesses the UK’s academic research strengths and the unique opportunity for our National Health Service (NHS) to drive accelerated access for innovators to our clinical infrastructure so that NHS patients have quicker access to the most transformational innovations.

What is your biggest achievement to date?

Being elected to parliament and appointed by the prime minister as life sciences adviser to shape and launch the 2011 Life Science Strategy, and then being appointed the UK’s first ever minister for life sciences to implement it.

What was the biggest challenge while working towards this?

The biggest challenge remains to break down the silos and barriers between academic and clinical research in our traditional healthcare system and create the incentives for innovation to be seen as an investment in better healthcare rather than as a cost.How did you overcome it?

It’s very much work in progress. By setting out and committing to a clear long-term cross-party strategy; continuing our support for science and a competitive business environment; launching the Accelerated Access Review; and looking at ways to harness disease and place-based leadership. We are doing all we can to make a tangible difference to the UK’s attractiveness for investment in life sciences innovation.

Which individual in the life sciences field has been most influential in your work?

The former head of a US biotech investment fund who came on to the stage at the Cambridge biotech investment conference in 2002 in jeans and a T-shirt and quietly announced she was dying of an untreatable rare cancer. She reminded everyone to remember that the number one mission of the life sciences sector should be to help patients.

What do you consider to be the biggest challenge in your field today?

The pace of technological convergence which is creating new combinations of digital devices, diagnostics and drugs that challenge our traditional pathways of regulation and reimbursement and demand new thinking.

What do you hope your next achievement will be?

Accelerating the mainstream adoption of genomic diagnosis and treatment in the NHS and the digitalisation of NHS healthcare with integrated patient records. This will facilitate UK leadership in clinical informatics and precision medicine.

Do you have any advice for anyone looking to break into your field?

For those looking to work in the life sciences, focus on the patient journey and practical innovations that deliver tangible value to healthcare systems in delivering care for patients. For those breaking into politics, have a career first and bring to politics the same values that lie behind all great endeavours: ambition, vision, courage, commitment, teamwork and a love of the endeavour for its own sake.