UK Life Sciences Future50 update: Momentum in an Evolving Landscape

The UK’s long history as a scientific pioneer continues to the present day. The businesses highlighted in our UK Life Sciences Future50 are all pursuing groundbreaking science in areas including biopharmaceuticals, AI, digital health, diagnostics and medical devices.

Companies in the Future50 have achieved notable successes during the two years since we published the first report:

• Several have progressed therapeutic candidates into or through clinical trials, illustrating the continued potential of the underlying science
• A number have achieved important regulatory clearances and launched innovative products, highlighting their ability to turn world-leading research into commercial products
• Between 31 October 2023 and 2 September 2025, companies within the Future50 raised nearly £1 billion across 21 deals¹ in total, showing that investor appetite for high-quality UK life sciences innovation remains strong, even against the backdrop of a challenging fundraising landscape.

The life sciences sector’s huge potential for the UK extends way beyond driving major advances in scientific discovery. The economic impact it has by creating high-value jobs and driving exports is considerable. And the life sciences industry’s ability to improve population health and productivity generate significant benefits for everyone.

Building on the UK’s leading research and scientific talent

The UK government’s 2024 Life Sciences Competitiveness Indicators shows that the UK accounts for a substantial share of global medical sciences citations, ranking behind only the USA and China, but ahead of both in terms of its share in the top 1% of the most-cited publications globally. The UK’s academic institutions consistently rank among the world’s best in life sciences research and this fuels a strong pipeline of scientific talent and groundbreaking discoveries.

Unleashing innovation for commercial excellence

But the ambition to convert this world-leading research status into commercially thriving businesses and create a life sciences superpower remains a persistent challenge. The UK underperforms in commercialisation and adoption, with slower clinical-trial set-up and slow access and uptake of innovations compared to international peers. Companies in the sector are up against intense global competition for investment. While there here has been a recognition of gaps in scale up funding and the direction of travel is positive, the pressing task now is to move quickly to operationalise the commitments made.

Policies to unlock growth – the Future50 perspective

We asked the Future50 companies about the policies that they believed were most important for helping to unlock growth for the life sciences industry. Their responses reveal a clear focus on incentives to encourage investment through R&D tax credits and a desire to make sure that these continue to provide a competitive advantage for UK businesses. In addition, companies emphasised the importance of developments to help unlock institutional capital so that UK pension funds are able to participate in early-stage investments that are so essential to closing the funding gap and helping innovative UK businesses to scale. Companies also stressed the vital role that government funding makes to the sector, as well as the need to make cross-border collaboration as frictionless as possible to sustain the UK’s position in the global life sciences ecosystem.
 

Building commercial success on scientific excellence – corporate perspectives

Our interviews with executives from global pharmaceutical and medical device businesses highlighted the UK’s strengths in R&D and pioneering science. But while these are crucial factors, executives also point to other elements of the overall environment where they see opportunities for improvement and chances to increase the UK’s attractiveness as a magnet for global investment, including: approval times and market access, pricing and reimbursement, adoption rates, and incentivising innovation. These are explored further in the report.

The PwC UK Life Sciences Future50

PwC’s UK Life Sciences Future50 includes a selection of companies that illustrate the breadth and depth of world-class science and innovation by life sciences businesses in the UK but is neither exclusive nor exhaustive.

To create this report, we’ve brought together PwC’s life sciences industry experts across Deals, Audit, Consulting, Risk, and Tax. Our global network of experts in pharmaceutical, biotech, medtech and healthcare works with you to define and deliver effective solutions so you can solve the comple challenges facing your business, from innovation to regulation and patient engagement.

Above all we aim to help you succeed, today and tomorrow. So, we’ll help you shape the business strategies your future demands and implement the time-critical programs and procedures essential for success today. Our multi-disciplinary teams and global reach enable us to offer exactly the support you need, wherever you need it, regardless of your organisation’s size.