Breakthrough Issue 2 SPA02 | Page 27

Have Your Say Tweet your opinions @UKSPA Doris-Ann Williams MBA, Chief Executive, British In Vitro Diagnostics Association (BIVDA) “Our focus at the AMRC has been to look at solutions, to look at opportunities, to be really clear about what’s at stake for research and for patients and to speak our truth no matter how difficult and possibly how unpalatable that might be for some.” Aisling Burnand, Chief Executive, Association of Medical Research Charities “Things are going to have to change both in the way the apprenticeship system works for life sciences and also in terms of how that money can be reinvested. There needs to be much more responsive mechanisms in place between industry and higher education establishments to respond to the technology changes that are driving the need for different skills.” Joanna Woolf, Chief Executive, Cogent Skills “It’s really hard to imagine how we could have a British [regulatory] system with a lighter touch but still fit for purpose” Doris-Ann Williams MBA, BIVDA “It will be critical to avoid divergence and duplication of regulatory regimes, so that patient safety is not put at risk.” ​ r Virginia Acha, Executive Director, Research, Medicine & Innovation, D Association for the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), June 2017 S u m m er 2 0 17 | U K S PA breakthrough | 2 7 s “Regulation on the use of biocides, on controlling animal by-products and ensuring they don’t get into the food chain, restriction of hazardous chemicals through the REACH Directive, all those sorts of environmental regulations have got to be taken into account. And the reality is that we will have to comply with whatever European regulation exists post-Brexit, so anything else is just layering more complexity on.”