In a bid to secure the future of the UK pharma industry, the sector will soon receive its own body to help employers drive the key skills agenda of the industry.

The move follows a workshop organized by Cogent Sector Skills Council and the National Skills Academy Process Industries (NSAPI), which brought together more than 30 of the country's largest industry players. "This group will put the 600 pharma employers in the UK firmly in the driving seat," Phil Jones, CEO of the National Skills Academy Process Industries, told Pharmaceutical Technology Europe (PTE). "It is their industry and they are the best people to direct the change."

Process industries (chemical, pharmaceuticals and polymers) in the UK are suffering from a severe skills shortage — 40% of the workforce is aged more than 45 years. To keep the industry alive, the sector will need to recruit 24000 apprentices and 10000 graduates during the next decade, but this won't be easy. According to Jones, the pharma industry does not have a good image. "The number of science subject graduates deciding to take employment in the manufacturing sector as opposed to finance, law or consultancy demonstrates that the pharma industry is not seen as an attractive career option," he said.

This opinion is mirrored by Michael Johnson, a recent graduate of Applied Biology, who now works at UK CMO, SCM Pharma, as a microbiology technician. Talking to PTE, he explained: "Many of my fellow graduates have steered away from science-based jobs since graduating and I am the only person from my year I know of currently working in the pharma sector. A lot of my friends think I work long hours in some dull laboratory for some pharmaceutical giant, which is certainly not the case."

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Pharmaceutical Technology Europe