CEO Update: Monday 29 January 2018
The BIA’s annual report on sector financing shows the UK has the strongest clinical and preclinical pipeline in Europe. Do download ‘Pipeline Progressing: the UK’s global bioscience cluster in 2017’, produced with our data partner Informa Pharma Intelligence.
This year’s report shows that UK biotech companies are scaling and maturing at pace, with UK biotech company IPOs raising more than twice as much money in 2017 than in 2016. The variety of funding options open to them shows we are building the third global cluster in bioscience in the UK. I used the launch of the report to encourage generalist investors not to miss out on the great opportunities in our sector
Congratulations to Harren Jhoti of Astex Pharmaceuticals, who was awarded the BIA Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to the UK biotech sector at our fantastic Gala Dinner last Thursday evening. It was a vibrant night of networking, catching up with old friends, great food and wine, and hearing from a selection of inspirational people like Parkinson’s UK President Jane Asher and Health Minister Lord James O’Shaughnessy. My highlight was the inspirational address from Parkinson’s UK patient advocate Emma Lawton, who rightly received a standing ovation from the packed room of 700 people.
We are very excited that Parkinson’s UK is our Charity of the Year for 2018, thank you to everyone who donated and took part in the silent auction for your generosity.
Back at Westminster last week, the BIA responded to the Trade and Customs Bills currently going through the House of Commons. Both Bills are in the Committee Stage, where a committee of MPs from all parties scrutinise the Bills line by line. In our submissions, we highlighted the need for continuity in current EU trading and customs arrangements to avoid disruption for life science companies and patients’ supply of medicines. On Friday, Brexit Secretary David Davis made a speech about the proposed implementation/ transition period, there will be more detail later today as the EU’s General Affairs Council meets to discuss the next stage of Brexit.
In other Brexit news, today the Brexit Health Alliance (BHA), which the BIA is a member of, launched its latest Brexit campaign, this time focusing on access to medicines. Further details can be found on their website.
What do BIA members Chain Biotech, CPI, Ipsen, Touchlight Genetics, Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, Rexgenero, Autolus, Synpromics, Lonza Biologics, UCL, Cobra Biologics, ReNeuron, Porton Biopharma, MedImmune and Oxford Biomedica have to celebrate? They’ve all benefited from the latest funding rounds announced by Innovate UK for innovative medicine companies.
Last week the new Science Minister Sam Gyimah announced the awarding of the first £70m out of the £146m that government has committed towards medicines manufacturing. The BIA and its members have worked closely with government to secure this funding, so it is fantastic to see the funds begin to be allocated. The money, which is available through the Industrial Challenge Strategy Fund, will be invested in promising projects that will enhance the UK’s capacity to speedily manufacture innovative medicines.
In events news, on January 31 we will be launching the new China Biotech Special Interest Group, which has been set up with the China-Britain Business Council (CBBC) and supported by the Department for International Trade (DIT), to provide a discussion platform for BIA and CBBC members in the biotech sector, exploring the opportunities for business growth in and with China, via trade and investment. If you’d like to attend, the event is free of charge but please make sure to register soon as space is limited.
And finally, on March 5 we will be holding our inaugural Chief Medical Officer Summit at the Wellcome Collection in London. The summit aims to enable CMO and R&D executives to understand possible routes for raising capital, partner with big Pharma, address and support the skills required to be a CMO in a SME and create a network to share ideas, solutions and support. You can find out more about the event and buy your tickets on our website.
Best,
Steve.