National Cancer Institute
The vision aims to accelerate the development and adoption of medical technologies for diseases. Credit: National Cancer Institute on Unsplash.

The UK government has announced new ten-year Life Sciences Vision, which builds on the successes of Covid-19 response to accelerate life-changing innovations for patients.

The new strategy, co-developed together with businesses and industry experts, is aimed at improving health outcomes for patients across the country.

Its mission-led approach aims to ensure scientific excellence in the UK over the next decade to solve some of the biggest healthcare problems of this generation such as cancer and dementia.

The Life Sciences Vision outlines seven critical healthcare missions focused on the prevention, diagnosis, monitoring and treating disease early.

It aims to accelerate the development and adoption of diagnostics, digital tools, new drugs and medical technologies for diseases.

The outlined seven critical healthcare missions include accelerating studies for novel dementia treatments; enabling early diagnosis and treatments; treatment and prevention of cardiovascular disease and addressing the underlying biology of ageing.

Sustaining the UK’s position in vaccine discovery, development and manufacturing; reducing mortality and morbidity from respiratory diseases and increasing understanding of mental health conditions are also included.

The new vision looks to match the successes of the UK Vaccines Taskforce, by using private sector expertise and removing unnecessary bureaucracy to help tackle future healthcare challenges quickly.

UK Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: “The UK life sciences sector has been a beacon of hope over the past year and a half, developing diagnostics and life-saving vaccines at remarkable speed to secure our route out of the pandemic.

“This ambitious strategy sets out how we can replicate this same scientific excellence and agility to meet today’s greatest health challenges, doing with cancer, dementia and obesity what we did with this virus – gaining the upper hand with brilliant science.”