Ireland’s global renown within the life sciences sector is no happy accident or overnight success. It has been steadily building its reputation in the field for the past six decades, aided by a steady supply of talent, an innovative research environment and significant Government support.
As country president and managing director of Novartis Ireland, Caitriona Walsh has a front-row seat for the evolution of Ireland’s life sciences sector. The next step? The development of a comprehensive life sciences strategy, as enshrined in the recent Programme for Government. Walsh says the move was a hugely positive one and plainly illustrates the critical role Ireland’s life sciences sector plays within society as a whole.
“We really welcome that the Government has recognised the importance of having a cohesive life science strategy,” she says. “If we think about what a life science strategy ultimately could do, it can ultimately benefit not just the wealth, but the health of the nation.”
Certain elements of the life sciences span different Government departments, from health to higher education to enterprise. Walsh believes that bringing those different perspectives together – and removing any silos that have developed – will help Ireland crystallise its ultimate goals within the sector and enable it to become even more globally competitive. “Ireland has done extremely well to date but to explore new opportunities and mitigate against any threats, we need a joined-up approach across multiple Government departments.
A key aspect for Walsh is a focus on “bench to bedside” science and innovation. Ireland’s prowess in life sciences manufacturing is not in question – we are the third largest exporter of medicines globally, she notes – but it must go back to basics if we are to have a meaningful impact on health.
“We need that very basic science and the workforce and the skill set that you need to do that basic science, then moving along the research and development chain into more advanced research and development, moving then into manufacturing and making sure we’ve got the skill sets and the evolving skill sets to keep up with the advancements in manufacturing as well,” Walsh explains.
“And then right through to ensuring that our health ecosystem in Ireland and our life science ecosystem is robust enough.” Underpinning this will be the ongoing digitalisation of our health service and the harnessing of the huge swathes of health data we produce every day, while speeding up access to health innovations must also be a priority of any new strategy.
Indeed, Ireland has an excellent foundation on which to build but Walsh says there are notable opportunities and areas where we can simply do better. “We’re definitely not there yet in terms of having a very digital savvy health system and we also know that patients in Ireland wait a lot longer than their European counterparts for access to innovation,” she points out.
One of these is patient access to innovative drugs and therapies via clinical trials, an area in which Ireland continues to lag compared to its European counterparts. Walsh says a focus on growing clinical trials activity within Ireland must be a key spoke within the umbrella of the forthcoming life sciences strategy. “It’s also in the Programme for Government that we’re committed to increasing clinical trials, and we really want to improve in that area”.
Ireland is also vulnerable to global threats and trends, and the recent Draghi report on EU competitiveness highlighted the life sciences sector as an area that needs “urgent” attention. This was no surprise, Walsh admits. “In the last two decades, Europe has lost about 25 per cent of its total R&D investment, so we have become much less competitive over the last 20 years. This needs to be addressed.”
Europe will now devise its own life sciences strategy, and Walsh says this is where Ireland has a choice. “Do we want to lead? Do we want to follow? Or do we want to get left behind in this rapidly evolving life sciences area? And I think that’s where Ireland has a huge opportunity now to really drive with its strategy that we could actually lead Europe on this, while also safeguarding the future health and wealth of the nation.”
