MedCity: forging links in London’s life sciences industry

London’s MedCity is working to boost collaboration between businesses in the area and invigorate the UK’s so-called ‘golden triangle’ life sciences cluster, with its three major centres in London, Oxford and Cambridge. LSIPR heard from Eliot Forster, who chairs MedCity, about the initiative.

While London, Oxford and Cambridge have long been centres for innovation in the life sciences, with researchers there discovering penicillin and the structure of DNA, for example, the world around the ‘golden triangle’ with the three cities at its corners is changing.

The life sciences industry has undergone some significant adjustments in recent years. As blockbuster drugs fall off the ‘patent cliff’ and research efforts turn from small molecule therapeutics to biologics, the UK is changing its life sciences strategy so that it may stay competitive globally.

In 2011, the government launched its Strategy for Life Sciences initiative, aimed at making the UK a “world-leading place for life sciences investment” by adopting three key strategies: building a life sciences ecosystem, attracting, developing and rewarding the best talent, and creating incentives to promote healthcare innovation.