The UK life sciences sector attracted more than £3bn in public-private investment over 12 months, according to a government update.
The government said communities across the country were benefiting from new treatments and scientific advances supported by its Life Sciences Sector Plan.
During its first year, the plan helped attract the investment, bring forward new medicines and shorten waits for the approval of treatments.
This included what the government described as the world’s first immunotherapy for type 1 diabetes, which was approved for NHS use in England and Wales last month.
Science, innovation and technology secretary Liz Kendall said: “In its first year, our Life Sciences Sector Plan is delivering cutting-edge treatments to tackle cancer, new opportunities for British businesses to start up and grow, and well-paid jobs that improve lives for families.
“A thriving life sciences sector is good for NHS patients and good for economic growth across the UK.
“People in every part of the country are already starting to see the benefits of our Plan, up to 66,000 jobs ready to be unlocked, slashed waiting times for clinical trials, and new medicines being rolled out to patients.
“When our life sciences sector succeeds, it improves all of our lives.”
Average clinical trial set-up times fell from 169 to 122 days during the first half of 2025 to 2026.
The figure beat the government’s target of reducing set-up times to fewer than 150 days.
Patients are also expected to receive some new medicines up to six months sooner through a joint approval process involving the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
Private investments announced during the year include £300m from AstraZeneca to support its Cambridge headquarters and a Macclesfield facility using AI to discover new drugs.
Moderna has opened an innovation centre in Harwell as part of a £1bn commitment to UK research and development over 10 years.
UCB is also investing £500m in a new research and development hub in Windlesham, Surrey, focused on medicines for immunological diseases, which involve the immune system.
The life sciences sector generates around £147bn in turnover and employs about 360,000 people, according to the government.
Nearly half of these jobs are based outside London, the East and South East of England.
A new Life Sciences Sector Jobs Plan aims to support the workforce needed for 66,000 additional jobs in priority occupations by 2035.
These roles include laboratory technicians, chemical scientists and software developers.
The figures were published in the first annual implementation update on the Life Sciences Sector Plan on 9 July.
The plan includes an ambition for the UK to become the world’s third-largest life sciences economy by 2035.
Health and social care secretary James Murray said: “In the year since we launched our Life Sciences Sector Plan, this government has brought in £3bn to speed up access to innovative treatments and transform the experience of patients.
“We also smashed our 150-day target for clinical trial set-up, slashing red tape to get those trials up and running at the speed patients deserve.
“By bringing together the brilliance of British science with the power of our NHS, we’re not just improving healthcare outcomes, we’re also building a stronger economy and creating jobs across the country.”
The update also marks the formal incorporation of the Health Data Research Service as a company, moving the programme from planning into delivery.
The service is intended to simplify and accelerate secure access to health data for approved researchers.
The government said this would allow scientists to spend less time navigating fragmented systems and more time generating evidence and making discoveries that could improve patient care.
The Life Sciences Sector Plan was developed alongside the Modern Industrial Strategy and the NHS 10 Year Health Plan.
It sets out how the UK intends to use its strengths in science, innovation and health to support economic growth, create jobs and improve outcomes for patients.
