.png)
.png)
Latest news from BIA
BIA responds to 2021 Budget
Steve Bates OBE, Chief Executive of the BioIndustry Association (BIA), said: "The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the strategic necessity for the UK to have a thriving domestic life sciences and biotech sector. Companies and researchers from across the UK have led in the global effort to develop, manufacture and deploy the COVID-19 vaccines, therapies and diagnostics needed to re-open the global economy. As the Prime Minister made clear last week, this successful public-private partnership is the formula for our country’s prosperity for years to come, a strong and active government investing massively in science and technology, coupled with a dynamic enterprise economy.
BIA welcomes the establishment of Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA)
Responding to the Government’s announcement of ARIA today, Ruth McKernan CBE, Chair of the BIA Board and Venture Partner at SV Health Investors said:
Dr David Atkins joins the National Genomics Board as the BIA SME representative
Dr David Atkins, Chief Executive Officer of Congenica, has joined the National Genomics Board as the BioIndustry Association (BIA)’s SME representative. The Board brings together senior decision makers from government, the NHS, academia and industry to advise the UK Government on its national genomics strategy, Genome UK. Dr Atkins’ appointment to the Board means that the voice of genomic start-ups and SMEs will be heard at the highest levels of government.
BIA reacts to the UK hitting the 15 million vaccination target
Steve Bates OBE, Chief Executive of the BIA said: “This fantastic news is down to the strong triple helix partnership between industry, academia and government that has developed through COVID-19 vaccine work, where the UK industry began in February 2020 to understand how we could manufacture and scale up a successful COVID-19 vaccine. The foresight and leadership of Kate Bingham was pivotal in securing these vaccines last summer, giving the NHS and PHE critical lead in time to understand how to deploy these complex products.
WuXi AppTec Completes Acquisition of OXGENE to Further Strengthen Cell and Gene Therapy Service Offerings for Global Customers
WuXi AppTec, a leading global provider of R&D- and manufacturing-enabling services in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries, today announced that it has completed the acquisition of OXGENE, a pioneering United Kingdom-based contract research and development organization that designs and develops scalable gene therapy technologies
Coulter Partners secures Chief Finance Officer and Non-Executive Director for Optimapharm
Coulter Partners was delighted to partner again recently with Optimapharm to secure the appointments of Walter Miller as Chief Finance Officer and Dr Charles Woler, M.D., Ph.D., as Non-Executive Director. Optimapharm is a contract research organization (CRO) managing clinical trials on behalf of leading biotech, pharma and medical devices companies in 27 countries across EMEA.
Vaccitech Appoints Two Independent Board Directors
Oxford, UK – Vaccitech Ltd, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of novel immunotherapeutics and vaccines for the treatment and prevention of infectious diseases and cancer, today announced the appointment of two new independent directors to its Board of Directors.
CN Bio awarded Innovate UK grant to develop single and multi-organ models for COVID-19 research
Cambridge, UK, 02 March 2021: CN Bio, a leading developer of single and multi-organ microphysiological systems (MPS), otherwise known as organ-on-a-chip, today announced it has received a grant from Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, to develop human-relevant MPS to advance investigations into SARS-CoV-2 infection. The funding will be used to develop and test advanced cell culture models that represent different regions of the lung and subsequently linking these models to other organ systems, such as liver and gut, to inform the rapid development of novel therapeutics.
BIA analysis of 2021 Budget
The Chancellor has said that business support measures such as Furlough will continue, and more money has been made available to vaccine programmes. But alongside these measures to mitigate the impact of the pandemic, there was a promise of more investment in science and tech scale-ups, improvements to R&D tax credits to incentivise cutting edge science to be conducted in the UK, and rule changes to make it easier to list on the London Stock Exchange.
CEO Update | Monday 01 March
If you want to understand how central life sciences entrepreneurialism is to this Government’s economic strategy, then this pre-Budget Facebook video by Boris Johnson makes for interesting viewing.
Rare Disease Day: A new perspective on quality of life
This year’s Rare Disease Day is a little different. Most years there would be events in Parliament, receptions and press events on Potters Fields near Tower Bridge. However, owing to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, none of those events is happening in quite the same way as before.
CEO Update | Monday 22 February 2021
The Government has announced the creation of the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA), a new UK research agency that will back high-risk, high-reward projects, set to launch next year. ARIA will be Britain’s answer to the USA’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which has had an incredible impact by funding the best research and innovation wherever it is found, including supporting UK companies in the past. The search for the Agency’s leadership has now begun and we are seeking to understand how the new entity will be run and operate – any insight from members would be very welcome.
Please find a selection of featured BIA publications below. To see our full publications library, click here.
Influencing and shaping our sector | BIA update: October 2019 - January 2020
This quarterly update gives an overview of key policy developments and the BIA’s continued engagement with policymakers, regulatory authorities and wider stakeholders on behalf of the UK life sciences sector, from October 2019 to January 2020.
Global and growing - UK biotech financing in 2019
New figures published today (Wednesday 22 January 2020) by the UK BioIndustry Association (BIA) and Informa Pharma Intelligence reveal that the UK biotech sector raised £1.3 billion in 2019.
UK life sciences: Catalysing investment and growth
This updated interim report sets out how the UK life sciences sector is driving investment and growth and makes the case for increased cost-effective public investment in the sector.
BIA biotech manifesto 2019
The United Kingdom (UK) will have a general election on Thursday, 12 December. The UK BioIndustry Association (BIA) has launched a biotech manifesto with its recommendations on how political parties can support the innovative UK life sciences sector.
