Four of the UK's leading healthcare industry associations, encompassing the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and diagnostic industries, are joining forces under a new initiative called LifeSciencesUK.

Launched at the beginning of January, LifeSciencesUK aims to help strengthen and grow the UK life science sector for the benefit of both patients and the UK economy as a whole. The four founding members are the Association of British Healthcare Industries, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, the BioIndustry Association and the British In Vitro Diagnostics Association.

The new initiative came out of the realization that the four associations were collaborating more and more on certain topics. This type of collaboration has imtensified ever since the formation of the UK's Office for Life Sciences in 2009, which provided them all with the same main point of contact within the UK government.

“The four trade associations have been working closely together over the last couple of years, and this [initiative] is really a formalization of that, providing a single unified voice on shared, key issues,” says Joe Wildy, director of public affairs and policy at the BioIndustry Association.

These key issues include improving the investment environment for UK healthcare companies, improving patient access to new medicines, devices, technologies and diagnostics, and demonstrating the importance of UK life sciences to the UK economy.

The setting up of LifeSciencesUK has been broadly welcomed. “I can say that it is long overdue,” says Tony Turner, innovations director at Cranfield Ventures, which manages spin-outs and licensing from Cranfield University. “The UK needs a stronger voice in life sciences, where it has particular strengths.”