Geoffrey Owen
Attitudes towards the Brexit vote among science-based firms in the UK have gradually shifted from deep gloom at the start towards a more balanced assessment of what departure from the EU might mean and how it could be turned to the UK’s advantage. There is a view that an active industrial policy—what Theresa May has called a modern industrial strategy—could offset some or all of the disadvantages of non-EU membership. This is reflected, for example, in the recent report by John Bell, the government’s adviser on life sciences. He has suggested that Brexit, if carefully managed, could be used as a catalyst, setting in train a range of new measures that would speed the growth of the pharmaceutical industry in the UK.