Pharmaceuticals Industry: Industry Facts
- There are currently 47 UK companies and five non-UK companies developing biopharmaceutical products in the UK. Of these 34 have products in preclinical trials and 30 have a product in clinical trials.
- There are 189 new drugs that were discovered and developed in the UK in preclinical or clinical trials or awaiting approval, more than 10% of the world total.
- In Europe, the UK has almost twice as many products in development as its nearest competitor, Germany, with France and Switzerland in third and fourth positions.
- The industry is set to remain a major player with a continuing need for new medicines, employing 83,000 workers at all levels. GlaxoSmithKline, Astra Zeneca, Pfizer, Merck and Novartis are some of the largest companies in the UK.
- The pharmaceutical and agro-chemical industry employs scientists to discover, develop and market new drugs and treatments for disease.
- On average, it takes around 10 to 12 years and £550 million to develop a new medicine, with no guarantee that a medicine will go on to be a commercial success.
- Pharmaceutical prices have grown at a slower rate than consumer prices as a whole and in real terms, are 21 per cent cheaper than ten years ago.
- Of the major medicines sold in the UK, around half were developed in British laboratories.
- Research and development expenditure by the pharmaceutical industry in Britain amounts to more than £3 billion, or around £9 million a day.
- A quarter of the entire research expenditure by the UK manufacturing sector is funded or carried out by the pharmaceutical sector.
