UK life sciences 2025: driving innovation, accelerating trials, and leading in advanced therapies

UK Life Sciences 2025: driving innovation, accelerating trials, and leading in advanced therapies

As we close out 2025, the UK life sciences sector has faltered somewhat. However, there are signs of sustained recovery across both the commercial research and development (R&D) and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) sectors.

Increased activity

Advanced therapies in the cell and gene therapy (CGT) sectors have increased 70% year-on-year and the GMP manufacturing sites have also increased by 14%, demonstrating a strong growth this year. Even more growth is expected over the next few years.

With the O’Shaughnessy Review reforms underway, it is anticipated that commercial clinical trials will double in 2026 and beyond. There is now a need to support scaleup R&D and GMP manufacturing space to handle this increase accordingly.

There has been increased activity and agenda items between the UK and US in areas of market access and value-based pricing, particularly focusing on outcomes-based reimbursement rather than upfront costs. Ongoing dialogues have been held between the countries on policy changes, transparent pricing and cost containment for expensive therapies. However, some private organisations entering the US distribution network are already exploring agreements on patient outcomes. These are not government mandated but do reflect a trend of harmonisation towards pricing strategies.

Sector highlights 2025

Here are the defining features of sector activity this year:

Venture capital (VC):

UK biotech raised £1.23b in H1 2025, maintaining a 28% share of European VC.
Two megadeals dominated: Isomorphic Labs (£449m) and Verdiva Bio (£327m).
Increased inbound investment from US and Asian pharma into UK biotech hubs (London–Oxford–Cambridge).

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A): Analysts expect continued M&A momentum in 2026, especially in AI-enabled R&D, CGT manufacturing, and precision medicine.

Institutional investment: Increased participation from pension funds and Long-Term Asset Funds (LTAFs) via British Business Bank initiatives.

Capacity growth: Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) licensed GMP sites increased by 14% compared to 2024, reflecting investment in advanced therapy manufacturing infrastructure.

CGT manufacturing surge: UK remains Europe’s leader in CGT trials, with a 70% rise in phase I trials year-on-year, requiring expanded GMP capacity.

Automation and digitalisation: adoption of automated quality assurance (QA) systems cut review times by up to 65% and reduced costs by over 50%, improving throughput and compliance.

Sustainability integration: GMP facilities increasingly adopting green manufacturing practices and circular economy principles to meet NHS and regulatory environmental, social and governance (ESG) targets.

Looking ahead

The future of development and construction within the UK life sciences sector looks very strong and strategically important for 2026 and beyond. There is a predicted demand for specialised R&D and GMP facilities driven by growth in CGT, biologics, and AI-enabled labs. The life sciences real estate sector has seen a growth factor of 8 since 2016, and despite some oversupply in 2024/25, we expect new builds to be more focused on high-spec labs and flexible manufacturing spaces in the year ahead.

We are also seeing increased investment into more flexible and modular manufacturing plants. This will support advanced therapies and small molecule production using innovative design solutions which challenge the ‘norm’ of delivery solutions outside of the current supply chain. These solutions will continue to push the boundaries of green construction, energy efficiency and circular economy principles, with ESG compliance as a major driver for low carbon and waste reduction becoming increasingly important.

Future laboratories will feature a variety of Internet of Things (IoT) enabled digital twins and automation ready facilities for AI-driven R&D and manufacturing. Overall, various analysts are forecasting up to £4bn investment into life sciences by 2030 with flexible, sustainable and tech enabled facilities dominating the pipeline.

Gleeds has been busy this year assisting our clients with innovative delivery techniques and supporting their drive for sustainable futures, cost effective and innovative solutions across their portfolios. We will continue to work with our clients throughout 2026.