London showcases life sciences leadership after buzzing London Life Sciences Week

There was such a buzz at London Life Sciences Week and a lot of weight behind all the events - from London & Partners and MedCity with involvement also from the BioIndustry Association, Mayor of London and the UK Government, as well as several sponsors. Industry players came from around the world. There is no doubt that London had massive life sciences energy.

So what were our key takeaways?

Keynote openings

I went to the Welcome to London Reception at the stunning Somerset House venue on the evening before the main event, and then The Future of Life Sciences on the first morning. Here's what I took from them:

• Samantha Simmonds, the television presenter, hailed the opening of London Life Sciences Week as a standout in the international biotech calendar, and she was right.
• Sir Sadiq Khan, the London Mayor, is determined to make London a life sciences superpower - the best city in the world to work, live and launch a business. London is the world’s most connected place on earth with researchers at the cutting edge of innovation.
• Lord Patrick Vallance, the Minister for Science, Innovation, Research and Nuclear, highlighted that London is at the top, with three of the top 15 universities in the world for life sciences, and 2,700 life sciences companies. However, London is also part of the Golden Triangle with Cambridge and Oxford, and joined up with West Midlands, Manchester, Liverpool, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. He explained that The Life Sciences Sector Plan has 30 recommendations but three key things that will make or break it.
  
  - Support for world class R&D with leading universities and institutions plus the new £600m Health Data Research Service. 
  - The UK to be the most outstanding place to launch, scale and grow a life sciences business, removing barriers to finance. 
  - NHS reform - so that innovation reaches patients and the NHS is an early adopter, going hand in hand with the NHS 10 year plan. 
  Patrick highlighted the huge and exciting investments by BioNTech, Moderna and others. The really exciting opportunities are where public and private sector work together so AI, data and biology are converging to change how we prevent, treat and cure disease. The Francis Crick Institute, the Alan Turing Institute and Google are at the centre of this.
• Dame Anne Glover shared 35 years of experience as a leading venture capital investor in biotech and she is optimistic about the future for life sciences in the UK. She advocated a focus on skills, opportunity and not just risk, and pension involvement. There are great opportunities for cures in cell and gene therapy, as well as AI to analyse new uses for old drugs and faster development.

50 exciting cutting edge growing Life Sciences companies

Shane Taylor and Emerald Hockley went to the Bench to Business Showcase, featuring exciting cutting edge growing life sciences companies that featured in the recently released London Life Sciences Companies to Watch 2025 Report from MedCity. I had the privilege of being a judge on that panel and it was no mean feat getting that list of exciting life sciences pioneers down to just 50. There were lots more great companies that were not even in the report.

Shane's and Emerald's takeaways were that they observed an impressive range of innovative life sciences companies. These included organisations at various stages of growth, with some established for up to 10 years. The Bench to Business Showcase featured panels such as "Grow London Global Overview" and "The Impact of AI on Biotech Investment", alongside engaging pitches from companies like Epsilogen, Signatur Biosciences, and P.Happi. The Showcase highlighted London's dynamic and forward-thinking life sciences ecosystem, underscoring its ability to attract global talent and foster groundbreaking advancements. Speakers urged emerging life science companies to take advantage of London's rich life sciences ecosystem with specific mention of the flexibility available now with the range of lab space on offer.

Women's Health Innovation Showcase

Emily Dyer attended the Women's Health Innovation Showcase at British Land and Royal London Asset Management's recently opened One Triton Square in Regent's Place. This was produced by Claire Cockerton in collaboration with GTA HealthTech, MedCity, TLA Women in Tech, Capital Enterprise and Get Soaked Studio. Emily found the energy at this event incredible - with lots of positivity, hope and inspiration from individuals and organisations working to improve women's health and raise the profile of area. Emily's key takeaways included:

• There is a powerful economic argument for investing in and undertaking research in women's health issues. For example, many women feel that they have to reduce their hours or leave employment when they reach the perimenopause or menopause stages due to a lack of support from employers - reducing the workforce and reducing women's pension pots. Women are also often informal and unpaid carers - if they are unable to perform this role due to poor health, then this care gap needs to be filled. Successful femtech companies have also shown that there is money to be made whilst making a positive difference to women's lives.
• There are still barriers for female entrepreneurs or organisations focused on women's health. Panellists discussed their experiences of not being taken seriously or having to change how they presented themselves when talking about their work or when seeking investment. There has been a cultural shift in this area, but it is clear that more needs to be done to ensure equal access and opportunity.
• Collaboration is key. Given that there is limited data on diseases/conditions that affect women and how women's bodies respond to medicines, particularly for certain ethnic groups, it is important that researchers share data sets and their findings, and think about ways to work together. The panellists also encouraged the audience to report all symptoms when taking medicines so that we can build a better understanding of the effects of medicines on women.  
• We need to speak up against censorship of women's health. Deirdre O'Neill of Hertility finished the event with some closing remarks on shadow-banning and the censorship of women's health content by social media platforms, and the parliamentary roundtable she was invited to take part in to discuss these points. It is clear that there needs to be a greater focus on this issue to ensure that women have access to the information they need to stay healthy, access screenings and identify issues/changes with their bodies. 

The 2026 PING Conference will look at Britain's place in the global pharma world and how it will be able to lead in Europe by 2030. London Life Sciences Week already shows how strong and vibrant the UK's life sciences offering is.

If you have any thoughts for the PING Conference, please contact Paul Gershlick in our Pharmaceuticals and Life Sciences team.