The government recently launched its bold new Life Sciences Sector Plan as part of the government’s flagship Industrial Strategy, setting out a ten-year mission to harness British science and innovation to deliver long-term economic growth and a stronger, prevention-focused NHS.

The plan sets out a comprehensive roadmap built around three core pillars:

Enabling World-Class R&D – strengthening the UK’s leadership in science and discovery
Making the UK an outstanding place to start, scale and invest – growing homegrown companies and attracting global capital
Driving Health Innovation and NHS Reform – delivering better outcomes for patients and a more modern, preventative healthcare system

At the heart of the plan is the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and advanced data science to accelerate research, streamline clinical trials, enhance manufacturing, and improve access to medicines and treatments across the Life Sciences sector.

It’s an exciting and ambitious plan, and one that positions some of Informed Solutions’ innovation and AI work in a strategically important context for healthcare transformation both domestically and globally.

Accelerating Clinical Trials with AI

By harnessing responsible and ethical AI innovation, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is transforming the UK’s clinical trial assessment process by delivering efficiencies that are enabling faster access to life-saving medicines and vaccines. This advancement dramatically reduces delays in clinical trial approval and supports rapid and safe delivery of future treatments to patients worldwide, ultimately saving lives and enhancing global preparedness against future health threats.

This groundbreaking world-first AI in clinical trials initiative exemplifies the transformative potential of AI for good. Faced with rising volumes of complex clinical trial applications and limitations in the time of highly qualified experts, MHRA leveraged cutting-edge AI and automation to streamline its Clinical Trial Authorisation (CTA) process, delivering faster access to life-saving medicines and vaccines while enhancing regulatory efficiency and accuracy.

Using a rigorous AI and Data Readiness Review Framework and GOV.UK Service Standard practices – UK Government best practice guidelines that ensure digital services are user-focused, accessible, and secure – the project introduced AI models to fast-track assessment and detection of ‘grounds for non-acceptance’ (GNA) in trial protocols and automate site validation via regulatory databases. These tools are already significantly reducing manual workloads, improving assessment accuracy, and enabling expert assessors to focus on higher-value, safety-critical decisions.

Faster, More Effective Access to Medicines and Treatment

Elsewhere, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is working on an enhanced version of the national database that tracks early intelligence on new medicines, indications, and formulations being developed globally.

UK PharmaScan has played a critical role in NHS planning for over 13 years, providing early insight into the pharmaceutical pipeline up to three years ahead of potential market entry in the UK. The redevelopment has been allocated funding through the Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing, Access and Growth (VPAG), with strong backing from the UK government, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), and the wider pharmaceutical industry. It forms part of a national effort to strengthen the infrastructure that supports timely and informed decision-making across the healthcare system.

The redevelopment of UK PharmaScan marks a key step in strengthening the infrastructure that underpins early access to innovative treatments, helping to shape a smarter, more connected and collaborative approach to horizon scanning across the healthcare system.

The upgraded platform will better support the NHS, MHRA, and the UK Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme, by delivering a single, shared approach to horizon scanning, enabling more effective and secure sharing of commercially sensitive data. It will also improve system usability, scalability, and analytical capability to help anticipate and manage the introduction of new treatments.

The transformation of UK PharmaScan is an initiative of national importance that strengthens the NHS’s ability to plan for the future of medicine. By enabling early, secure, and effective access to pharmaceutical pipeline data, the new platform will help the healthcare system respond faster to innovation and deliver better outcomes for patients.

Finally, the plan places strong emphasis on supporting innovative UK firms to scale and remain in the UK. As Informed Solutions enters its 34th year as a privately held market challenger, we can proudly reflect on the many globally significant, award-winning data analytics and AI solutions we have developed that continue to help make our world, safer, cleaner, smarter, and healthier, and remain focused and committed to advancing innovation in support of a strong, resilient, and empowered UK life sciences sector.