Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2669 actions· ✨ 89 recent

The UK Department of Health and Social Care added Co-codamol (30mg/500mg, all formulations) to its list of medicines that cannot be parallel-exported from the UK or hoarded, effective 28 January 2026. DHSC had issued a medicine supply warning for co-codamol 30mg/500mg on 12 January 2026, projecting limited supply into at least early June 2026. The restriction is issued under regulation 43(2) of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012; breach constitutes a wholesale dealer licence violation enforceable by the MHRA with licence suspension.

The British Business Bank, the UK government's state-owned economic development bank, announced a GBP 50 million cornerstone commitment to Epidarex Capital's new life sciences fund on 20 January 2026. The fund, Epidarex Capital IV, LP, went on to announce a first close of USD 145 million on 27 January 2026, with the Bank joined by the Strathclyde Pension Fund, the Scottish National Investment Bank, and other family-office and corporate investors. This is the Bank's second cornerstone commitment to an Epidarex fund, following a GBP 50 million stake in Epidarex Capital III UK, LP in 2020.

The UK Department of Health and Social Care added Aspirin (all strengths and forms) and Ifosfamide (1g/2g powder for solution for injection vials, a chemotherapy agent) to its list of medicines that cannot be parallel-exported from the UK or hoarded, effective 17 January 2026. Pharmacy trade press reported the addition followed manufacturing delays and raw- ingredient shortages that had left UK pharmacies short of aspirin stock. The restriction is issued under regulation 43(2) of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012; breach constitutes a wholesale dealer licence violation enforceable by the MHRA with licence suspension.

The British Business Bank, the UK government's state-owned economic development bank, took a GBP 10.5 million (USD 13.9 million) equity stake in EpilepsyGTx, a UCL-spinout gene-therapy company, as part of a USD 33 million Series A financing round announced 10 December 2025. The round also included XGEN Venture and an unnamed global biopharmaceutical company; proceeds fund first-in-human Phase 1/2a trials of EpilepsyGTx's lead gene-therapy candidate EPY201 for focal refractory epilepsy.

The UK Department of Health and Social Care, delivered via Innovate UK, awarded more than GBP 54 million in government funding across eight R&D projects on 18 November 2025 through the Sustainable Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Programme, matched by more than GBP 20 million from industry (combined GBP 74m+). The programme is funded through the GBP 400 million VPAG Investment Programme, agreed under the 2024 Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing, Access and Growth (VPAG), and supports the manufacturing pillar of the UK's Modern Industrial Strategy Life Sciences Sector Plan. Funded projects include anaesthetic gas recovery/recycling (targeting ~GBP 5m annual NHS savings), converting spent nuclear fuel into radionuclide cancer therapies, CAR-T cell manufacturing scale-up (Royal Free Hospital), engineered bacteriophages for antibiotic resistance, and an AstraZeneca-led "Sustainable Future Factory" AI/robotics initiative.

The UK Department of Health and Social Care updated its list of medicines that cannot be parallel-exported from the UK or hoarded, adding Nelarabine (250mg/50ml solution for infusion vials, used in leukaemia/lymphoma treatment) and removing ten products including Atracurium, Cisatracurium and Erythromycin, effective 6 November 2025. The restriction is issued under regulation 43(2) of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 to protect domestic patient supply; breach constitutes a wholesale dealer licence violation enforceable by the MHRA with licence suspension. This is one of the DHSC's routine multi-times-per-year revisions to a standing list rather than a one-off policy action.

The UK Office for Life Sciences (OLS) launched the Life Sciences Large Investment Portfolio (LSLIP), a subsidy scheme worth up to GBP 570 million running from implementation in November 2025 to March 2030. The scheme provides direct grants, capped at GBP 130 million per award, to UK-registered private-sector companies committing to invest GBP 250 million or more over three years in domestic manufacturing or commercial R&D across three subsectors: human medicines (APIs and finished products), medical diagnostics, and MedTech. The scheme was referred to the CMA's Subsidy Advice Unit on 21 August 2025, which published its advisory report on 2 October 2025 ahead of the scheme's launch.

The UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Office for Life Sciences launched the Life Sciences Transformational R&D Investment Fund (TRIF) Pilot, a GBP 50 million (approx. USD 67.4 million) capital grant scheme for large-scale R&D projects in the life sciences sector. Only projects with total costs of at least GBP 100 million qualify, with grants typically covering 10-20% of total project costs. The pilot runs on a rolling-application basis until 31 March 2028 or until funding is exhausted.

The British Business Bank, the UK government's economic development bank, announced an GBP 8 million equity investment into NRG Therapeutics Ltd on 8 September 2025 as part of an oversubscribed GBP 50 million (USD 67 million) Series B financing round. NRG Therapeutics develops small-molecule mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP) inhibitors for neurodegenerative diseases including ALS/MND and Parkinson's. The round was led by SV Health Investors' Dementia Discovery Fund, with participation from M Ventures, Novartis Venture Fund, Criteria Bio Ventures, and existing investors Omega Funds and Brandon Capital; a British Business Bank representative joined NRG's board.

The UK Department of Health and Social Care added five tuberculosis-treatment antimicrobials to its list of medicines that cannot be parallel-exported from the UK or hoarded, effective 17 July 2025: Rifampicin capsules/powder and solvent for infusion (all strengths), Pyrazinamide 500mg tablets, Rifampicin + Isoniazid 300mg/150mg tablets, Rifampicin + Isoniazid + Pyrazinamide 120mg/50mg/300mg tablets, and Voractiv tablets (all strengths). The restriction is issued under regulation 43(2) of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012; breach constitutes a wholesale dealer licence violation enforceable by the MHRA with licence suspension.

The UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology signed a grant agreement with BioNTech UK Ltd. providing up to GBP 129 million in government support over 10 years, underpinning BioNTech's planned GBP 1 billion (USD 1.3 billion) investment in UK research and development over the same period. The funding backs two new R&D hubs: a life-sciences research centre in Cambridge (genomics, oncology, structural biology, regenerative medicine) and an AI hub co-located with BioNTech's planned UK headquarters in London, run by its InstaDeep subsidiary. The government frames the deal as one of the largest single-company investments in UK life-sciences history and part of the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor and Plan for Change industrial strategy.