The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 268 No 7180 p3-8
5/12 January 2002

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Pharmaceutical industry worth extra £2 — £4bn to United Kingdom

The pharmaceutical industry in the United Kingdom is worth between £2bn and £4bn a year more to the UK economy than the sum of its parts, according to a study by the Pharmaceutical Industry Competitiveness Task Force (PICTF).

The study attempts to assess what value the people and resources invested in the pharmaceutical industry have compared with their potential investment in other parts of the manufacturing industry. It also tries to gauge what economic benefit the UK gets from having a domestic pharmaceutical industry.

The study says that these figures are difficult to quantify, but it estimates that producer rents (capturing taxes and investment that would otherwise go abroad) are worth between £500m and £1.5bn a year, labour rents (higher salaries for pharmaceutical workers) are worth £80m–£160m and research and development spillovers for universities are worth £120m–£360m. The pharmaceutical industry contributed £11bn to the UK's trading flows, and £2.4bn to its balance of trade, and the study says that this is worth between £1bn and £2bn to the UK economy as a whole.

The first set of annual competitiveness and performance indicators for the pharmaceutical industry, have been set out by the PICTF. The 46 indicators have been selected to allow the Government and the industry to assess how the UK is performing in comparison with other countries. This year's figures will provide a baseline against which future policies can be considered.

The PICTF has also published a study which compares how new medicines are licensed and assessed in different countries.

All three reports can be downloaded from the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry's website (www.abpi.org.uk). Printed copies are available from Richard Ley at the ABPI (tel 020 7747 1410).

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