KPMG UK establishes new life sciences regulatory offering

KPMG UK has established a new regulatory solutions team within its rapidly growing life sciences practice. As the firm looks to grow the practice, KPMG has appointed industry expert Anusha Foy to lead the new offering.

In recent years, life sciences companies have faced mounting pressure from many directions, including increasing regulatory requirements, nonstop technological advances, and intense pricing pressure. On top of this, the unprecedented events of the pandemic have provided more reason to modernise compliance, and elevate the value and partnerships within companies, and with external stakeholders. Consultants are playing a key role in life sciences meet these demands – and as demand spikes for such services, KPMG has launched a new wing to help the industry meet its challenges head-on.

Operating from 21 offices across the UK, with approximately 16,000 partners and staff, KPMG’s British wing recorded a revenue of £2.3 billion in the financial year ending September 2020. As the company looks to grow its business in the coming period, KPMG has launched a new practice to advise pharmaceutical, medical device and diagnostics companies around the world.

The expert advisory group will offer regulatory solutions to clients in the life sciences sector, including strategic regulatory advice throughout the product development journey. This includes insights from early phase development to product launch, as well as helping clients maintain regulatory compliance for approved products in global markets. KPMG’s clients will also benefit from the firm’s connected business practice with deep expertise across life sciences audit, legal, risk, tax, advisory, deals, cybersecurity and data privacy.

Head of KPMG UK’s Life Sciences Practice, Adrian Griffiths, said, “[This is a time] where life sciences is critically important not only to health of individuals, but the smooth running of economies and creation of jobs. This new offering will provide support globally and further bolsters our established US regulatory practice. It also means our clients can access services and advice from across our life sciences practice, and work with a team which has significant industry experience.”

To head up the offering, Anusha Foy joins the firm as Associate Partner. She arrives from global company IQVIA, where she was the Global Head Regulatory Affairs, IQVIA BIOTECH, for the last six years. Beyond that, over her 21-year career, Foy also held senior positions with PAREXEL Consulting, PRA/ICON, and the UK MHRA – enabling her to bring wide ranging life sciences consulting leadership knowhow to KPMG’s new team. She will now work to grow her team over the coming months, with several appointments anticipated from within the life sciences industry.

Speaking on her new challenge, Foy noted, “Joining KPMG UK to head up this exciting new practice is a unique opportunity to innovate within the market and develop sector leading regulatory solutions. I’m particularly looking forward to working with clients in the regulatory space and building a team which will be a leading practice for the industry.”

Changing KPMG

The new offering comes as KPMG continues to reshape its UK organisation. Following pressure from regulators to separate its consulting work from its auditing function, the firm sold off several parts of its business in recent months.

In late 2019, KPMG offloaded its pensions advisory brand, which since relaunched as the independent Isio brand. Meanwhile, in 2021, a £400 million carve-out of KPMG’s restructuring wing saw it sell off and rebranded as Interpath Advisory. As the firm weighs up its future options, however, it has already been rumoured to be considering the creation of a new restructuring wing.

KPMG’s executive structure has undergone a major shift in 2021 as well. At the start of the year, the resignation of Bill Michael saw the firm decide to separate the roles of Non-Executive Chair and CEO – a move which seems to have ushered in a much-needed era of stability; as the initially interim Chair Bina Mehta has since been unanimously elected on a permanent basis.