In the 2017 Industrial Strategy, the Government committed to increasing investment in UK Research and Development to the OECD-average of 2.4% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2027, with a longer-term goal of reaching 3% to put the UK in the upper quartile. Whilst there is universal agreement that increasing R&D investment in the UK is a worthy goal, there is an ongoing discussion over how best to achieve it.

To stimulate this debate, the Office of Health Economics (OHE) was commissioned to investigate how the UK Government and the UK pharmaceutical industry can collaborate to deliver the life science sector’s share of this ambitious R&D target. The report finds that the pharmaceutical industry will be a key partner in realising the Government’s ambition and based upon evidence from a range of similar countries identifies the most appropriate policies to delivering the 2.4% goal.