Official Statistics

Bioscience and health technology sector statistics 2021 to 2022

Updated 4 April 2024

Main points

• The number of life sciences businesses operating in the UK has increased gradually since the 2008/09 financial year (when data collation began), reaching a total of 6,850 in 2021/22. These businesses had a total of 7,910 sites in the UK, a 1% increase compared to 2020/21.

• There were 304,200 people employed in the UK life sciences sector in 2021/22, a relative increase of 5% compared to 2020/21. Aside from a small decrease in 2018/19, employment in life sciences in the UK has seen a continuous upward trend between 2011/12 and 2021/22.

• Businesses in the UK life sciences industry generated £108.1 billion in turnover in 2021/22, a 13% increase from the turnover value of £95.9 billion (in 2021/22 prices) in 2020/21. Turnover has seen an upward trend since 2014/15, with the largest annual increase (in both absolute and relative terms) occurring between 2020/21 and 2021/22.

• There are 4 sectors operating within the life sciences industry (biopharmaceutical core, biopharmaceutical service and supply, medical technology core and medical technology service and supply). The sector with the highest proportion of sites and employment was the medical technology core sector, accounting for 44% of sites and 39% of employment in 2021/22. This sector has continuously accounted for the highest proportion of sites and employment between 2008/09 and 2021/22.

• The sector that generated the highest turnover in 2021/22 was the biopharmaceutical core sector, accounting for 43% of the total turnover generated across the life sciences industry. This was followed by the biopharmaceutical service and supply sector and medical technology core sector which each accounted for a share of 25% of turnover in 2021/22.

• The South East continues to be the UK region with the highest share of both life sciences industry employment and turnover, accounting for 23% of total employment and 30% of total turnover in 2021/22.

• The most recent data in the report covers the period during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many companies in the life sciences industry saw sharp increases in employment and turnover during the period between 2019/20 and 2020/21. The increases seen in these fields cannot be directly or wholly associated with the COVID-19 pandemic as companies also continued to carry out life sciences activity focusing on other areas during the pandemic.

Introduction

This report contains analysis of trends in the UK life sciences industry, covering the biopharmaceutical and medical technology principal sectors. The data does not include industrial biotechnology, animal health, not-for-profit organisations, public-funded institutions or universities. The three main measures of economic contribution and industry structure contained in this report are:

• employment - the number of people employed by life sciences businesses. This number is scaled based on the proportion of each business’s activities that are relevant to the life sciences industry

• turnover - the amount of money taken by life sciences businesses. This value is scaled based on the proportion of each business’s activities that are relevant to the life sciences industry

• number of businesses and their sites – the number of life sciences businesses and their sites registered in the UK

The analysis in this report covers the economic activity of businesses that focus on the discovery, development and marketing of new therapies and medical devices, referred to as ‘core’ businesses, as well as businesses operating in the specialist service and supply chains that are key parts of the ecosystem. A segmentation approach is applied that enables a detailed analysis of the product and service categories that make up the industry.

The (BaHTSS) series publishes data just under 2 years in arrears and this iteration of the report (covering data up to and including the end of the 2021 to 2022 financial year) was initially published on 7 December 2023. The data in this report is aggregated in terms of financial years. More information on the data and methods used in this report can be found in the accompanying background quality and user guide.

This report is also accompanied by:

• Bioscience and health technology sector statistics 2021 to 2022: accompanying data tables - a set of accompanying excel data tables providing the figures used in this report, as well as further aggregations of the data for users.
• Bioscience and health technology sector statistics 2021 to 2022: figures behind the charts - in order to ensure the images used in this report are also available in an accessible format, the figures used in the charts have been made available in these tables
• Bioscience and health technology sector statistics 2021 to 2022: life sciences sites – a dataset displaying classifications and other details relating to each individual site included in the publication in 2021/22. Employment and turnover figures are masked to avoid disclosure of individual site values.

Publication updates

New additions

This report includes analysis of regional growth rates and analysis of segment growth for the first time.

The coverage for data on business size has been improved from the previous publication. In this report, ‘business size’ refers to the classification of a company as either a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) or non-SME. Data relating to the years between 2017/18 and 2021/22 is now available in this report and associated documents, for the first time. This also has allowed for more granular classification of business size for SMEs in the publication, as defined by the European Union standard definition of small and medium-sized enterprises. Businesses classed as SMEs are now disaggregated into the 3 company categories outlined in the EU standard definition (medium, small and micro).

Similarly, time series data on whether a site is owned by a UK or overseas registered company is now available from 2017/18 to 2021/22, although it should be noted that this data is not available for a substantial proportion (29% in 2021/22) of sites.

Methodology changes

Several changes have been made to the methodology behind the statistics this year, including:

• a change in the reporting periods used. In this year’s publication the data has been captured in financial years (instead of calendar years), and the reporting periods have been labelled in a YYYY/YY format. Previous publications up to and including the Bioscience and health technology sector statistics 2018 release aggregated data by calendar year. Each publication since has aggregated data by financial year, but the data was labelled with the calendar year that the financial year ends in (for example, the Bioscience and health technology sector statistics 2021 report related to data up to and including the year 2020/21). In this report, data is labelled consistently with the period it relates to. Financial year deflators have been used to adjust all turnover values into 2021/22 prices.

• further research was conducted to identify businesses which have substantial levels of activity in the field of genomics. This has resulted in more businesses being tagged with the genomics classification codes. All figures in this report include a backdated timeseries to cover these businesses.

• it is recommended to always use the most recently available report in the BaHTSS series. More details on these changes can be found in the accompanying background quality and user guide.

Revision notices

Further work has been carried out to adjust past data in the time series into financial years as opposed to calendar years. The employment and turnover figures for each site have been recalculated based on the reported employment/turnover for that site in each financial year, and financial year deflators have been used to put all turnover values in 2021/22 prices.

Combined with the usual revisions that take place each year, this has resulted in the total turnover for each year between 2008/09 and 2020/21 being revised by between 2% and 7%. Over the same period, employment numbers have been revised by between -1% and 2%.

Additional businesses were identified as having substantial levels of activity in the field of genomics this year. Figures on genomics activity relating to past years have been backdated and revised accordingly. This has resulted in the number of sites involved in genomics activity being revised upwards each year between 2008/09 and 2021/22. Combined with the usual revisions that take place each year, the number of sites has been revised upwards between a range of 25% and 55% compared to the previous report. The associated employment and turnover with these sites has also been revised upwards over the same period. The employment revisions for each year range between 16% and 33% and for turnover the range is 4% and 37%.

Trends in the shape and size of the life sciences industry

In 2021/22, there were 6,850 businesses operating in the UK life sciences industry over 7,910 sites. These businesses employed 304,200 people and generated £108.1 billion of turnover.

The number of businesses and the number of sites across these businesses have both seen an upward trend since 2008/09, with 29% more businesses and 37% more sites operating in 2021/22 compared to 2008/09. The largest annual increases (in both absolute and relative terms) occurred between 2016/17 and 2017/18, with the number of sites increasing by 460 and the number of businesses increasing by 390. In the following year, the number of sites and businesses decreased slightly, but subsequently have both increased every year since 2018/19.

Figure 1: number of businesses and sites in the UK life sciences industry

Figure 1: number of businesses and sites in the UK life sciences industry.

Note: the y-axis does not begin at 0.

Similarly, employment in the life sciences industry has seen an overall upward trend between 2008/09 and 2021/22. Employment has seen a sharper increase since 2018/19, rising from 263,700 in 2018/19 to 304,200 in 2021/22 - an increase of 15%. Over the 14 years since data collection began, there have been only 2 occasions when life sciences employment decreased. The largest of these decreases was seen between 2010/11 and 2011/12, when employment decreased by 4,600 (or 2%).

Figure 2: employment in the UK life sciences industry

Figure 2: employment in the UK life sciences industry.

Note: the y-axis does not begin at 0.

Turnover generated by the life sciences industry, adjusted for inflation and based on 2021/22 prices, increased each year between 2014/15 and 2021/22. This was preceded by a period of 4 years (between 2010/11 and 2014/15) during which turnover followed an overall declining trend. Similar to trends seen in life sciences employment, turnover has also seen a sharper increase in recent years. The highest year-on-year increase in turnover, both in monetary and percentage terms, occurred between 2020/21 and 2021/22 with turnover increasing by £12.3 billion (an increase of 13%).

The sharp increase between 2020/21 and 2021/22 occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic which will have partially influenced some companies’ turnover. However, it is not possible in this data to disaggregate what proportion of this increase was influenced by the pandemic.

Figure 3: turnover generated by the UK life sciences industry

Figure 3: turnover generated by the UK life sciences industry.

Note: the y-axis does not begin at 0.

Life sciences industry by sector

Businesses and sites by sector

Some businesses may have multiple sites that operate in different sectors of the life sciences industry. In this analysis, these businesses will be included in each of the business counts for the sectors their sites operate in. This means that the sum of the sector business counts will be greater than the total number of businesses across the life sciences industry as a whole. More information on businesses operating over multiple sectors can be found in the accompanying background quality and user guide.

In 2021/22, there were 4,550 sites operating in the core sector, which accounted for 57% of total life sciences sites. Of these core sites, 1,080 were in the biopharmaceutical sector and 3,460 were in the medical technology sector. Core biopharmaceutical sites accounted for 14% of all life sciences sites in 2021/22, whilst medical technology core sites accounted for 44%.

In 2021/22, there were a further 3,370 sites which specialised in the UK-based service and supply sector (businesses that offer services to core biopharmaceutical and medical technology sites), which accounted for 43% of life sciences sites. Of these service and supply sites, 1,920 were in the biopharmaceutical sector and 1,440 were in the medical technology sector. The biopharmaceutical service and supply sector accounted for 24% of all life sciences sites in 2021/22 whilst medical technology service and supply sites accounted for 18%.

All 4 sectors in the industry have seen an upward trend in the number of sites between 2008/09 and 2021/22. The biopharmaceutical sectors have experienced a steeper increase compared to the medical technology sectors. Although the core medical technology sector has consistently had the highest number of sites each year since data collection began in 2008/09, this increase in the number of biopharmaceutical sites has meant that the overall share of sites operating in the core medical technology sector has decreased from 49% in 2008/09 to 44% in 2021/22.

Between 2020/21 and 2021/22, the core biopharmaceutical sector and the biopharmaceutical service and supply sector both saw increases in the number of sites, with increases of 50 sites (or 5%) and 30 sites (or 2%) respectively. The 2 medical technology sectors both saw decreases in the number of sites between 2020/21 and 2021/22, the largest of which was seen in the medical technology service and supply sector (where there was a decrease of 30 sites, or 2%).

Figure 4: number of UK life sciences sites by sector

Figure 4: number of UK life sciences sites by sector.

Industry employment by sector

Employment in businesses operating in the 2 core sectors was 187,200 in 2021/22, which accounted for 62% of all life sciences employment. Almost two thirds (117,200 people) of this total for core businesses were employed in the medical technology core sector, compared to 70,000 in the core biopharmaceutical sector.

In 2021/22, 116,900 people were employed in businesses operating in the UK based service and supply sector, which accounted for 38% of people employed in the life sciences industry. In contrast to core businesses, most of the employment for service and supply businesses was within the biopharmaceutical sector, which accounted for 80,000 (around two thirds) of the total 116,900 employed in the service and supply sectors in 2021/22.

The sector with the highest employment out of the four sectors was the core medical technology sector, which accounted for 39% of employment in the life sciences industry in 2021/22. This has consistently been the sector with the highest share of employment since 2008/09 and its share of total life sciences industry employment has stayed broadly consistent over time.

Employment in all 4 sectors increased between 2020/21 and 2021/22. The largest of these increases (both in absolute and relative terms) occurred in the biopharmaceutical service and supply sector, where employment increased by 7,100, or 10%. Employment in the biopharmaceutical service and supply sector has increased substantially in recent years, and as a result the sector surpassed the core biopharmaceuticals sector in 2019/20 to become the second largest sector in terms of employment.

Figure 5: UK life sciences employment by sector

Figure 5: UK life sciences employment by sector.

Industry turnover by sector

Turnover values in this publication are reported in 2021/22 prices, using GDP deflators to adjust for inflation.

The core biopharmaceutical sector generated £46.7 billion in turnover in 2021/22, accounting for 43% of the life sciences industry total. In terms of turnover, this sector has consistently been the largest of the 4 sectors every year since data collection began in 2008/09. Turnover generated by the core biopharmaceutical sector reached £44.2 billion in 2010/11, after which turnover broadly followed a decreasing trend until it reached its lowest value at £35.1 billion in 2016/17. Five consecutive years of growth since then meant that core biopharmaceutical sector turnover reached its highest value in 2021/22, surpassing the previous peak in 2010/11 for the first time.

Each of the four life sciences sectors saw increases in turnover between 2020/21 and 2021/22, the largest (in absolute terms) of which were seen in the core biopharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical service and supply sectors, whose turnover values increased by £5.0 billion (an increase of 12%) and £3.7 billion (an increase of 15%) respectively.

The two core sectors have historically contributed the majority of the life sciences industry turnover, although the overall proportion of life sciences industry turnover being generated by the two core sectors has decreased over time, from 77% in 2008/09 to 68% in 2021/22.

Recent growth in the biopharmaceutical service and supply sector has resulted in this sector slightly surpassing the core medical technology sector for the first time in 2021/22 to become the sector generating the second highest turnover out of the 4 sectors.

Figure 6: turnover generated by the UK life sciences industry by sector

Figure 6: turnover generated by the UK life sciences industry by sector.

Variation across the UK

UK life sciences industry employment

The South East had the highest employment of all regions in the UK at 71,300 in 2021/22, accounting for 23% of all employment in the industry. The share of industry employment based in the South East has declined slightly from 25% in 2008/09. Despite this, the South East consistently had the highest share of employment of all regions between 2008/09 and 2021/22. Life sciences employment in the South East increased steadily between 2013/14 and 2021/22, from 55,400 in 2013/14 to 71,300 in 2021/22 (an increase of 29%). The second highest region in terms of life sciences industry employment in 2021/22 was the East of England, which accounted for 43,900 (or 14%) of total employment. Employment in this region increased by 11% between 2020/21 and 2021/22, and life sciences employment in the East of England in 2021/22 was at its highest since data collection began in 2008/09.

In 2021/22, 11% of life sciences industry employment was based in London. Employment in this region has generally followed an upward trend over time, from 19,400 (which was equivalent to 9% of the total industry employment) in 2008/09 to 34,800 in 2021/22. This increase in life sciences employment meant that London became the UK region with the third highest employment in 2019/20 and has remained third up to 2021/22.

Life sciences industry employment has generally followed an upward trend over time but increased more sharply between 2018/19 and 2021/22, with each individual region seeing an increase in employment over this time period. London saw the largest increase in both absolute and relative terms between 2018/19 and 2021/22, with an increase of 7,800, or 29%. All regions had higher employment in 2021/22 compared to 2008/09, with the largest net increases seen in London, the South East and the East of England.

Figure 7: distribution of employment in the UK life sciences industry by region in 2021/22

Figure 7: distribution of employment in the UK life sciences industry by region in 2021 to 2022.

The local authority district with the highest life sciences employment in 2021/22 was South Cambridgeshire, in the East of England region, with 10,100 employees. The local authority districts of South Cambridgeshire and Cambridge (the fourth highest district for life sciences employment in the UK, and the second highest district in the East of England) combined accounted for 38% of the total life sciences employment in the East of England, and 6% of the total life sciences employment across the UK.

The local authority districts with the second and third highest life sciences employment in 2021/22 were Cheshire East (in the North West ITL1 region) and the Vale of the White Horse (in the South East), with 8,900 and 7,100 employees respectively.

Figure 8: distribution of employment in the UK life sciences industry by local authority district in 2021/22

Figure 8: distribution of employment in the UK life sciences industry by local authority district in 2021 to 2022.

Note: the local authority districts (LADs) presented in figure 8 represent the LAD boundaries as of December 2022, with LADs being assigned to sites using a method which ensures geographic consistency across all official statistics. However, this means that the boundary changes which took place in 2023 have not been reflected in this analysis - please see section 2.7 of the accompanying background quality and methodology note for more details.

Biopharmaceutical employment

The South East had the highest employment of all regions in the biopharmaceutical sector at 35,600 in 2021/22, which accounted for 24% of all employment in the biopharmaceutical sector. There were 36,300 people employed in the biopharmaceutical sector in the South East in 2008/09 but employment decreased substantially in the following years, reaching 30,400 in 2013/14. Between 2013/14 and 2021/22, biopharmaceutical sector employment in this region recovered to similar levels to that seen in 2008/09.

The East of England was the UK region with the next highest share of biopharmaceutical employment in 2021/22, accounting for 19% (or 29,100) of the total. Biopharmaceutical employment in the East of England has broadly followed an upwards trend from 2008/09 with the exception of a slight decline in 2017/18 and 2018/19. Since 2018/19 employment has increased sharply by 5,800 or 25%.

Employment within the biopharmaceutical sector in London reached 20,700 in 2021/22, accounting for 14% of all biopharmaceutical employment. Employment in this region saw a modest increase of 100 between 2020/21 and 2021/22, following a much more substantial increase of 3,400 (or 20%) between 2019/20 and 2020/21.

Across the entire time period from 2008/09 to 2021/22, the largest regional net increases in biopharmaceutical employment were seen in the East of England, whose employment increased by 8,800 (a percentage increase of 44%), and London, whose employment increased by 7,500 (or 56%). The South East was the only region whose employment was lower in 2021/22 compared to 2008/09, from 36,300 in 2008/09 to 35,600 in 2021/22.

Yorkshire and the Humber saw the highest relative increase over the same period, with employment rising from 3,600 in 2008/09 to 7,100 in 2021/22, an increase of 95%. Despite this, the region continued to account for a relatively small proportion, 5%, of all biopharmaceutical employment in the industry in 2021/22.

Medical technology employment

Similar to the biopharmaceutical sector, in 2021/22 the South East had the highest share of employment in the medical technology sector  with employment of 35,700, accounting for 23% of the sector total.

Yorkshire and the Humber was the region with the second highest share of employment in the medical technology sector in 2021/22, accounting for 14,800 (10%) of the sector total. This region was followed closely by the East of England and the North West, where 14,700 people (10% of the sector total) were employed in the medical technology sector in each region in 2021/22.

The South East saw the largest net increase in medical technology employment between 2008/09 and 2021/22, from 22,300 in 2008/09 to 35,700 in 2021/22 (an increase of 14,400). Over the same time period, London saw the largest percentage increase in the medical technology sector, with employment increasing by 131% from 6,100 to 14,100 between 2008/09 and 2021/22. Both regions have seen steady upward trends over the period.

UK life sciences industry turnover

Similar to employment, the South East was the UK region which generated the highest share of life sciences industry turnover, at 30% (or £32.4 billion) in 2021/22. This was substantially higher than that of the region with the second highest turnover generated (the East of England), whose turnover was valued at £19.7 billion (18% of turnover generated by the industry). The South East has consistently generated the highest turnover of all regions, and, in contrast to employment, its share of total industry turnover has increased over time from 26% in 2008/09 to 30% in 2021/22.

In 2021/22, the East of England also accounted for a high proportion of industry turnover (£19.7 billion, or 18%), making it the region which generated the second highest turnover behind the South East.

The North West and London generated £13.4 billion and £11.6 billion turnover in 2021/22, accounting for 12% and 11% of the life sciences industry total respectively. These two regions followed the East of England as the third and fourth highest regions in terms of the value of turnover generated in 2021/22.

Turnover increased across all regions between 2020/21 and 2021/22. The largest increase (in both absolute and relative terms) over this period was seen in the East of England, where turnover increased by £4.6 billion, or 30%. The South East also saw a large increase in the value of turnover between 2020/21 to 2021/22, from £29.4 billion to £32.4 billion (a 10% increase).

Figure 9: distribution of turnover generated by the UK life sciences industry by region in 2021/22

Figure 9: distribution of turnover generated by the UK life sciences industry by region in 2021 to 2022.

The local authority district which generated the largest amount of turnover within the life sciences industry in 2021/22 was the Vale of the White Horse, with £6.5 billion in turnover. This accounted for 20% of the life sciences turnover generated in the South East, and 6% of the total UK life sciences turnover in 2021/22. The next highest district in terms of turnover was Cheshire East (in the North West), where £6.3 billion in turnover was generated in 2021/22.

The third and fourth highest local authority districts in terms of life sciences turnover in 2021/22 were South Cambridgeshire (with £5.3 billion in turnover) and Cambridge (with £4.2 billion in turnover). In 2021/22, these two districts combined accounted for 48% of the life sciences turnover generated in the East of England, and 9% of the total life sciences turnover across the UK.

Figure 10: distribution of turnover in the UK life sciences industry by local authority district in 2021/22.

Figure 10: distribution of turnover in the UK life sciences industry by local authority district in 2021 to 2022.

Note: the local authority districts (LADs) presented in figure 10 represent the LAD boundaries as of December 2022, with LADs being assigned to sites using a method which ensures geographic consistency across all official statistics. However, this means that the boundary changes which took place in 2023 have not been reflected in this analysis - please see section 2.7 of the accompanying background quality and methodology note for more details.

Biopharmaceutical turnover

In 2021/22, the UK region with the highest turnover generated by sites operating in the biopharmaceutical sector was the South East, accounting for 30%, or £22.4 billion, of the biopharmaceutical sector total. The share of total biopharmaceutical sector turnover generated in this region has increased over time from 27% in 2008/09.

The South East has been the UK region with the highest value of turnover generated in the biopharmaceutical sector every year since data collection began in 2008/09. During this time period, the South East’s biopharmaceutical turnover was at its lowest (£13.4 billion) in 2014/15, after which the region experienced continuous  increases year-on-year, reaching the highest annual turnover value of the period in 2021/22.

Between 2008/09 and 2021/22, the East of England was the second highest region in terms of biopharmaceutical turnover every year except 2014/15, when the North West’s turnover exceeded the East of England’s. Turnover generated in the East of England increased year-on-year between 2015/16 and 2021/22 and reached £16.1 billion in 2021/22 (the highest value seen since data collection began in 2008/09). This resulted in the East of England accounting for 22% of biopharmaceutical turnover in 2021/22. Turnover generated in the biopharmaceutical sector in the North West declined between 2016/17 and 2018/19 but subsequently saw three consecutive years of growth, with this region reaching its highest turnover value (£10.1 billion) in 2021/22.

All regions except for London and the North East, where there was a small decline of 5% and 1% respectively, saw increases in turnover from the biopharmaceutical sector between 2020/21 and 2021/22. The most substantial of these increases was seen in the East of England with an increase of £4.3 billion over the period (a rise of 37%).

Medical technology turnover

In 2021/22, the UK region with the highest turnover generated by sites operating in the medical technology sector was the South East, accounting for 29%, or £10.0 billion, of the medical technology sector total.

The South East has consistently been the highest UK region in terms of medical technology turnover every year since data collection began in 2008/09. The value of medical technology turnover in the South East grew modestly between 2008/09 and 2015/16, after which turnover increased at a faster rate, from £7.0 billion in 2015/16 to £10.0 billion in 2021/22. The value of medical technology turnover in the South East was consistently between 2-3 times higher that of the second highest region, the East of England, every year between 2013/14 and 2021/22.

The East of England generated the second highest turnover of all regions for the medical technology sector at  £3.7 billion in 2021/22, which was an increase of 7% (or £0.2 billion) from the previous year but was still lower than the 2008/09 turnover value for this region (£4.1 billion, the highest value in the data collection period).

The next highest regions in terms of turnover generated by sites operating in the medical technology sector in 2021/22 were the North West and London, each accounting for £3.2 billion (a 9% share) of the total medical technology sector turnover.

All regions except for East Midlands, where there was a small decline of 1%, saw notable increases in turnover from the medical technology sector between 2020/21 and 2021/22.

UK regional growth rates

Growth rates for the regions of the UK in this section are calculated using compound annual growth rates (CAGR) between the periods 2016/17 to 2021/22. The CAGR describes the smoothed rate at which employment/turnover and the number of sites grew each year between a start period and an end period. It represents the constant, annual rate of change required for the initial value (relating to the value in 2016/17 in this case) to become the end value (the value in 2021/22). In reality, the rate of change for employment/turnover and the count of sites will fluctuate year to year, but the CAGR is a useful indicator of the average annual growth in a time period. The formula and methodology for this can be found in section 2.6 of the accompanying background quality and methodology document.

Employment

The fastest growing UK region in terms of life sciences employment between 2016/17 and 2021/22 was Northern Ireland, with a CAGR of 7%. Life sciences employment in this region grew from 4,900 in 2016/17 to 6,900 in 2021/22, and this increase of 2,000 employees accounted for 4% of the net increase in life sciences employment across the UK as a whole.

London and the South West also experienced a high rate of growth in life sciences employment between 2016/17 and 2021/22, each with CAGRs of 6%. Life sciences employment in London increased by 8,900 in this time period, which accounted for 20% of the net UK increase in life sciences employment.

Despite having the highest share of employment out of all regions, the South East experienced lower relative growth between 2016/17 and 2021/22, with life sciences employment in this region increasing at a CAGR of 3% (the eighth highest out of 12 regions). However, as life sciences employment in this region grew by 9,600 over this time period, the South East’s contribution to the net UK growth in life sciences employment was the highest of all regions at 22%.

Figure 11: regional CAGR for life sciences employment between 2016 to 2017 and 2021 to 2022

Figure 11: regional CAGR for life sciences employment between 2016 to 2017 and 2021 to 2022.

Turnover

The UK region with the highest rate of growth in terms of turnover between 2016/17 and 2021/22 was Scotland, where turnover increased with a CAGR of 12% (from £4.1 billion to £7.0 billion). This increase of £2.9 billion was equivalent to 12% of the total net increase in UK life sciences turnover over the same time period. Northern Ireland also experienced a high rate of growth over this time period, with a CAGR of 11%.

The next fastest growing regions for turnover in terms of CAGR between 2016/17 and 2021/22 were the East of England and the South East, with CAGRs of 7% and 6% respectively. Over this five year period, life sciences turnover in the East of England increased by £5.7 billion, which was equivalent to 24% of the net UK growth in life science turnover. Like with employment, the South East’s contribution to overall UK growth in turnover was the highest of all regions, with the South East’s increase of £8.7 billion over this time period accounting for 36% of UK’s net increase in life sciences turnover.

Figure 12: regional CAGR for life sciences turnover between 2016 to 2017 and 2021 to 2022

Figure 12: regional CAGR for life sciences turnover between 2016 to 2017 and 2021 to 2022.

Life sciences industry segments

Each site covered in this publication is allocated a segment based on the activity carried out there. A full list of these segments and more details on their definitions can be found in the accompanying background quality and user guide in section 11: sector and segmentation classification scheme’.

A small proportion of businesses in the database have more than one site. As segments are allocated at the site level, it is possible for sites belonging to the same business to be allocated different segments to each other (meaning that turnover and employment figures for a single business may be split between multiple segments).

Where a site engages in activity that falls into more than one segment, only the segment that represents the majority of the site activity is used in the analysis.

Similar to the analysis by geographical regions, the growth rates for segmentation are calculated using Compound Annual Growth Rates (CAGR) between the periods 2016/17 to 2021/22. The formula and methodology for this can be found in section 2.6 of the accompanying background quality and methodology document.

Employment by segmentation

In 2021/22, the segment within the biopharmaceutical sector with the highest employment was small molecules (a segment within the core sector). This was also the highest employment out of all segments within the whole life sciences industry. This segment accounted for 51,200, or 17%, of total employment in the life sciences industry. Small molecules had almost double the employment of the segment with the second highest employment in life sciences, contract manufacturing/research organisation (within the biopharmaceutical service and supply sector), where employment was 26,800 in 2021/22. All segments in the sector other than small molecules had an individual share of less than 10% each of total employment.

Whilst the small molecules segment has continuously had the highest employment of biopharmaceutical sites since 2008/09, its share of overall life science employment has decreased over time. Small molecules previously accounted for 25% of employment in 2008/09 and has decreased gradually to 17% in 2021/22. This decline has been the result of increases in employment in other segments and a decrease of 10% in small molecules segment employment since 2008/09. The contract manufacturing/research organisation segment in the biopharmaceutical sector had the second highest employment numbers at 26,800 in 2021/22. This segment has seen an upward trend between 2008/09 and 2021/22, with employment nearly doubling from 13,500 in 2008/09 to 26,800 in 2021/22.

In 2021/22 the medical technology segment with the highest employment was digital health. This segment employed 18,900 people in 2021/22 and accounted for 6% of all people employed in the life sciences industry. This placed it as the segment with the third highest employment across the entire UK life sciences industry after the small molecules and contract manufacturing/research organisation segments in the biopharmaceutical sector. The digital health segment has continuously been the segment with the highest employment within the medical technology sector since 2009/10 and has followed an upward trend over time, with particularly substantial increases between 2014/15 and 2021/22 (a percentage increase of 90%). All other medical technology segments individually accounted for less than 5% of life sciences employment.

Figure 13: percentage of employment in the life science industry by segment in 2021/22

Figure 13: percentage of employment in the life science sector by segment in 2021 to 2022.

Notes:

• only the 10 segments with the highest share of industry employment are shown
• the data labels in the chart are rounded to 0 decimals places but the bars represent their unrounded value
• all segments within the service and supply sector are identical for both the biopharmaceutical and medical technology sectors, hence there is a ‘reagent, equipment and consumables supplier’ segment twice in the top 10 for the respective sectors

Compound annual growth rates (CAGR) for employment by segments

Segments with fewer than 1,000 employees in 2021/22 have been excluded from the following analysis of compound annual growth rates (CAGR) for employment due to the small impact they have on the overall employment figures of the life science industry.

The segment which saw the highest growth rate in employment between 2016/17 and 2021/22 was the advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) segment. Employment in the ATMPs segment increased from 1,300 in 2016/17 to 4,000 in 2021/22, resulting in a CAGR of 24%. The market analysis/specialist consultants and formulation/drug delivery specialist segments (both in the biopharmaceutical sector) were the segments with the next highest growth rates, with CAGRs of 13% and 12% respectively over the same time period. Only 3 of the 10 highest segments in terms of employment growth rates were within the medical technology sector.

The information systems specialists and digital health segments had the highest employment growth rates within the medical technology sector (and had the 4th and 5th highest growth rates overall) between 2016/2017, each with CAGRs of 10%.

The biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing/research organisation segment had the 8th highest growth rate between 2016/17 and 2021/22, with a CAGR of 8%. However, the increase of 8,700 employees in this segment over this 5 year period accounted for 20% of the net UK increase in life sciences employment, making it the segment with the highest contribution to overall growth.

Many segments in the life science industry have also experienced sharp growth in the two year period between 2019/20 (prior to the COVID-19 pandemic) and 2021/22 in employment. It is not possible to determine the extent to which these increases were impacted by the pandemic due to the complex, interdependent nature of the industry.

Considering segments with over 1,000 employees in 2021/22, the segments in the biopharmaceutical sector which experienced the highest relative growth in employment between 2019/20 and 2021/22 were the ‘biopharmaceutical formulation/drug delivery specialist segment (with a CAGR of 26%), advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) segment (CAGR of 21%) and the ‘biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing/research organisation segment (14%).

Within the medical technology sector, the digital health segment also experienced sharp growth over the same period with a CAGR in employment of 13%.

Figure 14: CAGR for employment between 2016 to 2017 and 2021 to 2022 by segment

Figure 14: CAGR for employment between 2016 to 2017 and 2021 to 2022 by segment.

Notes:

• only the 10 segments with the highest CAGR are shown
• the data labels in the chart are rounded to 0 decimals places but the bars represent their unrounded value

Turnover by segmentation

Similar to employment, the small molecules segment generated the highest turnover of all segments, with £39.3 billion of turnover in 2021/22. This accounted for over a third of the turnover generated by the life sciences industry. The small molecule segment has consistently been the top segment in terms of turnover since data collection began in 2008/09, although turnover followed a downward trend between 2010/11 and 2016/17. After 2016/17, turnover has seen 5 consecutive years of growth, with turnover in 2021/22 reaching its highest value for the period between 2008/09 and 2021/22.

Following small molecules, the next two highest segments, in terms of turnover, were the reagent, equipment and consumables supplier segment and the contract manufacturing/research organisation segment. Both of these segments operate in the biopharmaceutical sector and generated £11.9 billion (11% of all life science turnover generated) and £6.3 billion (6% of all life sciences turnover generated) respectively. The 4 segments with the highest turnover in 2021/22 were all within the biopharmaceutical sector.

Despite the small molecule segment consistently accounting for the highest share of life science turnover generated out of all segments, this share has gradually declined from 44% in 2008/09 to 36% in 2021/22. By contrast, the reagent, equipment and consumables supplier and contract manufacturing/research organisation segments’ (within the biopharmaceutical sector) share of employment has each increased over the same period.

The segment with the highest turnover in 2021/22 within the medical technology sector was the in vitro diagnostic technology segment with £3.5 billion in turnover, a share of 3% of all turnover generated by the life sciences industry. The in vitro diagnostic technology segment saw a substantial increase in turnover between 2020/21 and 2021/22 of 32%.The single use technology segment and the reagent, equipment and consumables supplier segment, in the medical technology sector, were the segments with the next highest turnover, also accounting for 3% each of total life science turnover generated

Figure 15: percentage of turnover in the life sciences industry by segment in 2021/22

Figure 15: percentage of turnover in the life sciences sector by segment in 2021 to 2022.

Notes:

• only the 10 segments with the highest share of turnover are shown
• the data labels in the chart are rounded to 0 decimals places but the bars represent their unrounded value
• all segments within the service and supply sector are identical for both the biopharmaceutical and medical technology sectors, hence there is a ‘reagent, equipment and consumables supplier’ segment twice in the top 10 for the respective sectors

Compound annual growth rates (CAGR) for turnover by segments

Segments with less than £1 billion in turnover in 2021/22 have been excluded from the following analysis of compound annual growth rates (CAGR) for turnover due to the small impact they have on the overall turnover generated by the life science industry.

The segment with the highest growth rate in turnover between 2016/17 and 2021/22 was the biopharmaceutical market analysis/specialist consultants segment, with a CAGR of 24%. Turnover in this segment increased from £0.6 billion in 2016/17 to £1.7 billion in 2021/22. The segments with the next highest growth rates in turnover were the in vitro diagnostic technology and biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing/research organisation segments, with CAGRs of 14% and 13% respectively.

Half of the 10 highest growth segments for turnover, including 2 of the top 5, were within the medical technology sector; this contrasts with the composition of the 10 highest growth segments for employment (where only 3 segments were within the medical technology sector).

The small molecules segment had the 11th highest growth rate between 2016/17 and 2021/22, with a CAGR of 6%. However, the increase of £10.2 billion in turnover seen in this segment accounted for 38% of the net increase in the UK life sciences industry turnover over this time period, making it the segment with the highest contribution to overall UK growth.

Similar to employment, many segments in the life sciences industry have also experienced sharp growth in turnover generated between 2019/20 (prior to the COVID-19 pandemic) and 2021/22. It is not possible to determine the extent to which these increases were impacted by the pandemic due to the complex, interdependent nature of the industry.

Considering segments with turnover generated of at least £1 billion in 2021/22, the in vitro diagnostic technology segment in the medical technology sector experienced the highest relative growth in turnover between 2019/20 and 2021/22. This segment’s turnover increased from £1.9 billion in 2019/20 to £3.5 billion in 2021/22, resulting in a CAGR of 35%.

Within the biopharmaceutical sector, the segment which experienced the highest growth in turnover generated over the same period was the vaccines segment. Turnover generated within the vaccines segment increased from £1.7 billion in 2019/20 to £2.9 billion in 2021/22, resulting in a CAGR of 29% over the 2 year period.

Within the medical technology sector, the single use technology segment also experienced sharp growth over the same period with a CAGR of 23%.

Figure 16: CAGR for turnover between 2016/17 and 2021/22 by segment

Figure 16: CAGR for turnover between 2016 to 2017 and 2021 to 2022 by segment.

Notes:

• only the 10 segments with the highest CAGR are shown
• the data labels in the chart are rounded to 0 decimals places but the bars represent their unrounded value

Manufacturing and research activity in life sciences sites

In this section of the report, turnover and employment figures relate to sites where any manufacturing or R&D activity takes place. Some of these sites will undertake types of work in addition to manufacturing or research, and therefore employment and turnover from these sites includes contributions from non-manufacturing or non-research activities.

Some sites will undertake both manufacturing and R&D activities, meaning that the figures on turnover and employment for each of these sites are not mutually exclusive.

Manufacturing sites

There were 2,070 sites in 2021/22 involved in the manufacturing of life sciences products across the UK. The number of manufacturing sites has seen a slight downward trend since 2012/13, when the number of sites involved in manufacturing was at its highest (2,190) for the period between 2008/09 and 2021/22. In 2021/22, 26% of the total number of sites operating in life sciences industry were involved in manufacturing. This proportion has declined year-on-year since 2008/09, when 37% of sites were engaged in manufacturing activity. While the number of manufacturing sites has decreased since 2008/09, the total number of sites across the life sciences industry has seen an overall upward trend.

The region with the highest share of manufacturing sites was the South East, with 15% of sites being based in the region in 2021/22. Despite the South East having the highest proportion of manufacturing sites, this proportion is less than the South East’s share of all life sciences sites (18% in 2021/22). Other regions which also had a substantial share of the UK’s manufacturing sites were Yorkshire and the Humber, the East of England, the West Midlands, and the East Midlands, each accounting for over 10% of manufacturing sites in 2021/22. London by comparison only accounted for 6% of manufacturing sites in 2021/22.

In 2021/22, employment at sites engaged in manufacturing activities was at 118,800, a relative increase of 2% from 2020/21. Employment at manufacturing sites has increased overall between 2008/09 and 2021/22 and has broadly followed an upward trend in contrast to the number of sites. Despite this, there were some fluctuations and periods of decline but since 2018/19, employment has increased notably year-on-year, with employment rising from 110,000 in 2018/19 to 118,800 (an increase of 8,800, or 8%).

The region with the highest share of employment at manufacturing sites was the South East, with a share of 21% in 2021/22. This was substantially higher than the share of the region with the second highest manufacturing employment, the East of England, which accounted for 12% of employment in 2021/22. By contrast, London accounted for only 3% of employment at manufacturing sites.

Manufacturing sites generated £38.0bn of turnover in 2021/22, up from £35.2bn in 2020/21 - a relative increase of 8%. Turnover generated from manufacturing sites has fluctuated between 2008/09 and 2021/22 but there was an overall upward trend between 2017/18 and 2019/20 with a sharper rise between 2019/20 and 2021/22.

Similar to the number of sites and employment, the South East was the UK region which generated the highest value of turnover from sites engaged in manufacturing activity in 2021/22, a position it has held consistently since 2008/09. Sites in the South East generated 22% of all turnover in 2021/22, although this proportion has declined from 30%, in both 2011/12 and 2013/14 (the highest proportion since 2008/09). Sites in the East of England also accounted for a high proportion of the turnover generated by manufacturing sites, at 18% in 2021/22. By contrast, sites in the London region only accounted for 3% of the total turnover generated from manufacturing sites.

Figure 17: number of sites engaged in manufacturing activity and number of sites not engaged in manufacturing activity

Figure 17: number of sites engaged in manufacturing activity and number of sites not engaged in manufacturing activity.

Research and development (R&D) sites

In 2021/22, there were 2,600 life sciences sites in the UK that engaged in R&D activity. The number of sites engaged in R&D activity has seen a notable upward trend between 2008/09 and 2021/22. The proportion of total UK sites operating in the life sciences industry that engaged in R&D activity has remained broadly stable since 2008/09, with 33% of sites engaging in R&D activity in 2021/22.

The regions with the highest share of sites with R&D activity in 2021/22 were the South East and the East of England, with 18% of total R&D sites based in each region. This is consistent with the South East accounting for the largest share of overall life sciences sites in 2021/22, at 18%, with London following at 15%. London also had the third highest share of sites engaged in R&D activity at 15% in 2021/22.

In 2021/22, R&D sites reached employment of 107,000, a relative increase of 9% from 2020/21. Employment at sites engaged in R&D activity broadly followed an upward trend after 2013/14 and saw a sharper rise between 2018/19 and 2021/22.

The region with the highest share of employment at sites engaged in R&D activity was the South East, with a share of 24% in 2021/22. The East of England also accounted for a substantial proportion of employment at R&D sites in 2021/22, with a share of 21%. London was the UK region with the third highest employment at sites engaged in R&D activity, with a share of 10% in 2021/22.

R&D sites generated £35.5 billion of turnover in 2021/22, up from £29.5 billion in 2020/21, a relative increase of 20%. For the period between 2008/09 and 2021/22, turnover generated from R&D sites was at its lowest in 2014/15, at £21.9 billion, after which turnover increased each year, with the largest increase occurring between 2020/21 and 2021/22.

Similar to the number of sites and employment, the South East has consistently been the UK region which generated the highest total turnover for R&D sites since 2014/15. The South East’s share of turnover generated at R&D sites has grown from 24% in 2008/09 to 40% in 2021/22. The share of R&D site turnover held by the South East in 2021/22 was substantially higher than the region’s share of R&D sites and R&D employment (18% and 24%, respectively). Sites in the East of England also generated a high proportion of the turnover generated by R&D sites, at 27% in 2021/22. By contrast sites in the London region only generated 6% of the total turnover generated from R&D sites.

Figure 18: number of sites engaged in R&D activity and sites not engaged in any R&D activity

Figure 18: number of sites engaged in R&D activity and sites not engaged in any R&D activity.

Genomics sites

Genomics is an interdisciplinary field of science and technology focused on the study of genomes. In this publication, we use the term ‘genomics’ to refer specifically to the study of the human genome and the application of the resulting knowledge to human health.

In this analysis, sites with genomics activity are assigned a level 1 and level 2 genomics classification. More details on the categories used in these classifications can be found in the accompanying background quality and user guide in section 11. Sector and segmentation classification scheme. This classification is entirely separate from the sector/segment descriptions also assigned to sites.

Companies are only coded as undertaking genomics activity if genomics is their principal activity, or if genomics contributes to a substantial level of their activity. Companies that use genomics to inform processes such as drug discovery would not be classed as undertaking genomics activity.

Please note that additional businesses were identified as having substantial levels of activity in the field of genomics this year. Figures on genomics activity relating to past years have been backdated and revised accordingly. Please see the section on ‘Revision notices’ for more information.

In 2021/22, there were 150 sites which engaged in genomics activity. The number of sites notably increased year-on-year between 2008/09 and 2019/20 but has since remained more stable between 2020/21 and 2021/22, with no change in this figure between 2020/21 and 2021/22.

Employment at sites working in genomics has seen substantial increases year-on-year since 2008/09 and reached 6,800 in 2021/22, over 4 times the number of employees in 2008/09. The increase in employment in recent years has been notably sharp with employment more than doubling from 3,200 in 2016/17 to 6,800 in 2021/22.

Nearly half (45%) of the 150 sites in 2021/22 had a primary activity of the application of genomics (the process of directly using genomic information to improve targeting of clinical services) followed by a further 28% primarily involved in sequencing activities (which involves decoding the order of the nucleotides in a genome).

Despite the application of genomics accounting for the highest number of sites in 2021/22, there were more people employed at sites involved in sequencing. Sites involved in sequencing accounted for over half of employment in genomics sites, with nearly 3,800 employees. A further 2,300 employees worked at sites involved in the application of genomics, which accounted for 33% of employment at genomics sites. All other genomics sub-activities each accounted for 5% or less of overall employment at genomics sites.  

Both the number of employees working at sequencing sites and the number of employees working at application sites have seen upward trends since 2008/09, but employment at application sites has seen sharper increases. Employment at sites involved in sequencing has tripled between 2008/09 and 2021/22 whereas employment at sites involved in application of genomics has increased seven-fold. As a result, the proportion of employees at sites working in the application of genomics has increased from around 19% in 2008/09 to 33% in 2021/22, whilst the proportion of employment at sequencing sites has declined from 74% in 2008/09 to 56% in 2021/22.

Figure 19: employment at sites engaged in genomic activity

Figure 19: employment at sites engaged in genomic activity.

Note: employment for sites primarily involved in sampling and where activities are not elsewhere classified are not shown due to low counts

The value of turnover generated, in real terms, by genomics sites has seen an upward trend between 2008/09 and 2021/22, and reached £3.6 billion in 2021/22. Turnover generated by these sites is now 19 times higher in 2021/22 compared to 2008/09 with a high proportion of this growth occurring between 2014/15 and 2015/16. The trend in turnover generated has since been more volatile but a sharp increase of 36% was seen between 2020/21 and 2021/22.

Sites undertaking sequencing activity, generated the highest turnover of all activities in 2021/22, accounting for the vast majority of turnover generated from genomics sites. These sites generated £3.2 billion in turnover in 2021/22, accounting for 88% of all turnover generated by sites engaged in genomics activities. Turnover generated from sites specialising in sequencing consistently accounted for the majority of turnover generated from all genomics sites for the period between 2008/09 to 2021/22 and this proportion has substantially increased from 50% in 2008/09 to 88% in 2021/22.

Figure 20: turnover generated from sites engaged in genomics activity

Figure 20: turnover generated from sites engaged in genomics activity.

Note: employment for sites primarily involved in sampling and where activities are not elsewhere classified are not shown due to low counts

Size and ownership of life sciences businesses

Business size

In this publication, the coverage of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) classification has been improved from the previous publication. These improvements have been applied to the SME status for data relating to the time period between 2017/18 and 2021/22. Companies are categorised as micro, small, medium (SME) or large using the European Union standard definition of small and medium-sized enterprises.

In 2021/22, there were 5,950 sites that were part of SMEs in the UK, which accounted for 75% of all life sciences sites. Despite making up the majority of sites, SMEs accounted for a small fraction of the turnover generated by the life sciences industry, with £8.3 billion in turnover generated in 2021/22 (8% of total turnover generated by the life sciences industry). These sites also employed 69,800 people (23% of total employment in the life sciences industry).

Of all the sites in 2021/22, there was a small number (0.5%), where the SME classification was unknown.

The proportion of sites that belong to businesses which were SMEs saw a slight decline compared to previous years, falling to 75% in 2021/22 from 78% in 2017/18. This trend has also occurred in employment and turnover generated by sites at SME businesses. In 2017/18, 25% of people employed in life sciences were employed at SME sites, which fell to 23% in 2021/22 and similarly 10% of turnover generated from the sector in 2017/18 was from SME sites but this has fallen to 8% in 2021/22.

The proportion of life sciences sites that were part of SMEs varies by region. London and the East Midlands had the highest proportion of sites that were a part of SMEs, at 78% in 2021/22. By contrast, the South East had the lowest at 70% in 2021/22.

There were larger regional differences in the proportion of employment and turnover generated by SME sites. Only 17% of life sciences employment in the North East was at sites belonging to SMEs in 2021/22, but this proportion was 28% in the East Midlands. With regards to turnover, only 5% of life sciences turnover generated in the South East was from sites belonging to SMEs, whereas this proportion was 19% in Yorkshire and the Humber.

Figure 21: percentage of employment, sites and turnover by SME status in 2021 to 2022

Figure 21: percentage of employment, sites and turnover by SME status in 2021 to 2022.

Within these 5,950 sites that were part of SME businesses, nearly two thirds (63%) were part of micro businesses. A further 27% were part of small businesses and the remaining 10% were part of medium sized businesses.

Despite only accounting for 10% of sites belonging to SMEs, medium sizes businesses accounted for 47% of SME employment and 61% of turnover generated by SMEs in in 2021/22.

Figure 22: percentage of employment, sites and turnover for SMEs by subcategory in 2021/22

Figure 22: percentage of employment, sites and turnover for SMEs by subcategory in 2021 to 2022.

Company ownership

In this publication, data is now available on company ownership for the period between 2017/18 and 2021/22.

The data sources used to compile this report contain information on the ultimate global owner of the businesses in the database. This information is available for 71% (5,650) of the sites with data relating to 2021/22. However, the sites where the owner origin is not known account for a small proportion of total industry employment (6%) and turnover (2%).

In 2021/22, 27% of life sciences sites were identified as being owned by overseas companies. However, it’s important to note that the owner origin was unknown for a substantial proportion of sites (29%). The sites that were identified as having overseas ownership accounted for 65% of total life sciences industry turnover and 53% of employment in 2021/22.

The percentage of sites that were identified as being owned by overseas companies has increased each year from 22% in 2017/18 to 27% in 2021/22. Over the same time period, the percentage of sites with an unknown ownership status has decreased from 39% in 2017/18 to 29% in 2021/22.

Figure 23: percentage of employment, sites and turnover by company ownership in 2021/22

Figure 23: percentage of employment, sites and turnover by company ownership in 2021 to 2022.

Terminology

Industry: used to collectively describe all sectors covered in the analysis used in the BaHTSS series

Principal sector: The top level of the segmentation scheme used to describe biopharmaceuticals and medical technology

Sector: used to describe the 4 component sectors of the life sciences industry. This includes the core biopharmaceutical, core medical technology, biopharmaceutical service and supply and medical technology service and supply sectors.

Segment: used to describe the individual product or service groups within a sector. See the background quality and user guide section 10. Sector and segmentation classification scheme for more details on these segments.

Core biopharmaceutical sector: includes all businesses involved in developing and/or producing their own pharmaceutical products - from small, research and development (R&D) focused biotechs to multinational Big Pharma

Biopharmaceutical service and supply sector: comprises businesses that offer goods and services to core biopharmaceutical businesses including, for example, Contract Research and Manufacturing Organisations (CRMOs), and suppliers of consumables and reagents for R&D facilities

Core medical technology sector: includes all businesses whose primary business involves developing and producing medical technology products, ranging from single-use consumables to complex hospital equipment, including digital health products

Medical technology service and supply sector: comprises businesses that offer services to core medical technology businesses including, for example, CRMOs, and suppliers of consumables and reagents for R&D facilities

Genomics: an interdisciplinary field focusing on the study of the human genome and the application of resulting knowledge to human health. It is a cross-cutting categorisation across all four sectors.

Business: used to describe an entity that is the legal owner of a group of trading addresses or sites and legal entities. A business may consist of more than one site or registered company. The term business is used in this document when discussing the whole life sciences industry and the four sectors

Sites: Businesses can operate over multiple sites over different locations in the UK. Each individual site is segmented and has employment and turnover assigned to it

SME status: based on the European definition of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and refers to businesses with fewer than 250 employees and which either have annual turnover up to and including €50 million and/or have an annual balance sheet total up to and including €43 million