UK invests £86m in healthcare SMEs

“The government’s ambition is that NHS patients get world-leading, life-changing treatments as fast as possible,” said health minister Lord O’Shaugnessy. “That can’t happen unless we support medical innovation and tear down the barriers – like speed to market and access to funding – that can get in the way, especially for SMEs.”

Under the £86m funding, £39m are earmarked for regional academic health science networks under the NHS that aim to improve patient outcomes.   

Further £35m will go to the Digital Health Technology Catalyst for innovators, for the development of apps and digital technologies. Additionally, the government will fund real-world assessment of drugs and medical devices with £6m, a more empirical way of testing in contrast to evidence-based randomised clinical trails which require time-consuming enrolment of patients. Real world data could bring speed to the system as algorithms identify patterns in existing patient data which could support therapy decisions. Most recently, the NHS gave 1.6 millon patient records to  Google-owned artificial intelligence company DeepMind for a trial. Another £6 million will go to the Pathway Transformation Fund, aimed at integrating new technologies into the NHS' daily operations.

Industry welcomed the fund. Peter Ellingworth, CEO of the Association of British Healthcare Industries, said: “The measures could significantly enhance the UK as a destination of choice for MedTech companies, in turn, benefitting patients, the health system and the wider economy.” Dr Richard Torbett, executive director or Commercial Policy at the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), added: “As more and more small and medium-sized innovators join the ABPI, we continue to encourage and advocate ways to make ground-breaking, cost-effective healthcare technologies available as fast as possible. In doing so, patients will not only benefit from improved care, but the NHS will also become more productive and more sustainable in the long term.”