CEO Update: Monday 13 November

Last week, representatives from the BIA joined the UK delegation to Berlin for the annual BioEurope conference.  The event provided a great opportunity to showcase innovative UK companies and promote the work that the BIA has been undertaking on Brexit and other key policy areas for the sector. UK Health Minister Lord O’Shaughnessy spoke to a packed crowd on the UK Government’s plan for future close alignment in terms of medicines regulation and research collaboration. It is reassuring to see the UK Government on an international platform talking about future collaboration with Europe. Following the minister’s speech, BIA Brexit Lead Laura Collister represented the BIA alongside members F-Star, Evotec, and MSD in a lively panel discussion on Brexit. BioCentury Innovations also revealed some interesting new data at the conference, showing that the UK is storming ahead of other European countries for new biotech companies coming out of academia - positive news as we look towards our future relationship with Europe. While the team was at BioEurope, I headed to the ICBA meeting in Geneva, where it was great to catch up on what is going on in the industry at an international level. 

It’s worth noting the statistics revealed by a survey conducted by EFPIA among its members. The survey results clearly show the scale and importance of the medicines issues that must be resolved before the UK leaves the EU, and reinforce our position to secure ongoing cooperation on medicines regulation between the UK and EU, in the interests of public health and patient safety.

On Monday, I had the pleasure of attending the official opening of Adaptimmune’s new UK headquarters in Oxfordshire, unveiled by Sir John Bell, author of the Life Sciences Industrial Strategy. It is exciting to see the company invest in such an impressive, state-of-the-art 67,000 square foot facility in the UK.

Biobeat’s hotly anticipated report ‘Movers and Shakers in BioBusiness 2017’ was released recently. Now in its fifth year, the report highlighted 50 inspiring women in the sector who are driving scientific innovation, including BIA Board member and Managing Partner at Instinctif, Sue Charles, and Elizabeth Klein, CEO of Klein-Edmonds Associates, who works very closely with the BIA.  The BIA strongly believes in the need for greater recognition of women in the life sciences, and initiatives like the report provide an excellent opportunity to celebrate just some of the talented women that contribute so much to our sector.

Last week we saw data released on animal research from the ten universities that conduct the most animal procedures in the UK. The figures show that these ten universities account for one third of all animal research in the UK between them, and all ten are committed to avoiding or replacing the use of animals where possible. The BIA has long been a signatory of the Concordat on Openness on the Use of Animals in Research, so it is very encouraging to see transparency in this area from key institutions, and we will continue to promote the concordat amongst our membership.

On Wednesday, Innovate UK’s annual conference took place in Birmingham. Among a number of announcements was the new pilot innovation loan scheme, currently focussed on infrastructure systems but to be later expanded to the life sciences too. The loans will sit alongside existing grant funding schemes, as an addition to the funding mix for later-stage R&D. Our Finance and Tax Advisory Committee (FTAC) will be meeting with the new Chief Investment Officer of Innovate UK – who oversees the loans – on 14 December to find out more and we will keep members updated.

Innovate UK is impressively scaling and providing more support to our sector than ever. It’s great to see three BIA members - Cell Medica working with the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, and Tusk Therapeutics - win sizeable late-stage funding grants from the Biomedical Catalyst last week. We look forward to tracking the success of these projects. 

I’d also like to congratulate two other BIA members, Summit Therapeutics and The Wellcome Trust, on entering into a revenue sharing agreement for the exciting new precision antibiotic ridinilazole. Summit developed ridinilazole with funding support from The Wellcome Trust for phase one and two clinical trials, and it is now scheduled to enter phase three in the first half of next year. This is a fantastic example of the collaborative and mutually supportive approach to innovation that the UK life-sciences ecosystem is so well known for.

In other Brexit news, we’ll be holding our next Brexit briefing webinar next Tuesday. These webinars provide a monthly update on Brexit from a life science industry perspective, in which I discuss developments in Government policy, progress of working groups, and how these potentially affect companies in life sciences. Tuesday’s webinar will take place at 16:00-16:30, and you can register for it here.

I’d also like to remind you all that bioProcessUK 2017 is on the horizon, taking place in Cardiff City Hall on 29-30 November, with a pre-conference networking evening on the 28th at Cardiff Castle. This annual event is a fantastic opportunity to catch up with the latest developments within bioprocessing, to promote your organisation, and to network with delegates from across the sector. Last year we saw over 300 attendees, so make sure to register before it fills up.

And finally, the Medicines Manufacturing Industry Partnership (MMIP), in which BIA is a partner, has published its November newsletter– please take a read and hear more about MMIP’s recent activity and planned participation in the upcoming bioProcessUK conference.

Best,

Steve.