UK set on resolving standoff with big pharma, science minister says

Patrick Vallance says relations must improve and NHS has to reverse decline in drugs investment

The UK is determined to resolve its standoff with the pharmaceutical industry and reverse a 10-year decline in NHS spending on medicines, the science minister has told MPs after a string of drugmakers cancelled projects worth nearly 2bn.

Patrick Vallance, a former executive at drugmaker GSK, said the country needed to increase spending on medicines and reverse a decade of declining investment.