BIA welcomes new £2.5bn fund for innovative UK businesses

The BIA welcomes the creation of British Patient Capital, a £2.5 billion fund launched today by the British Business Bank. The fund will provide long-term funding to support the growth of innovative UK bioscience companies and other sectors.

BIA CEO Steve Bates said:

“British Patient Capital can cornerstone the next generation of UK life science companies to scale to global leadership. The BIA and the government are both focussed on increasing the supply of long-term capital to the UK life science sector. The need to increase in scale up capital in life sciences was explicitly recognised in the Government’s Life Sciences Sector Deal and the Treasury’s Patient Capital review.  We’re delighted that our calls for ambitious public investment have been heeded. Through leveraging a further £5 billion private investment, the fund can now create a step-change in the availability of funding to help UK life science members to scale and reach their global ambitions. The appointment of Russ Cummings former CEO of Touchstone today as a non exec director of British Patient Capital  adds fantastic weighty life science insight and experience to the leadership team .”  

British Patient Capital is managed by the British Business Bank and invests in venture capital funds, which in turn select investee companies. One of the first two recipient VC funds, also announced today, is the Dementia Discovery Fund run by SV Health.

The creation of the fund is one of the key outcomes of the UK Treasury’s 2017 Patient Capital Review. In its submission to the Review, the BIA called for the government to be ambitious in the scale of its investment and to use the expertise of the UK’s specialist life science fund managers.   

Ends

Notes to editors

The British Business Bank’s announcement is available here: https://www.british-business-bank.co.uk/2-5bn-british-patient-capital-programme-launched-enable-long-term-investment-innovative-companies-across-uk/  

The BIA’s submission to the Patient Capital Review is available here: https://www.bioindustry.org/resource-listing/bia-submission-to-the-hmt-patient-capital-review-pdf.html

The Government’s Life Sciences Sector Deal is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/life-sciences-sector-deal

The Treasury’s Patient Capital Review is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/financing-growth-in-innovative-firms

Contact:

Ed Sexton, Communications and Media Relations Manager, BIA [email protected] 0207 630 2196

About the BIA

Established over 25 years ago at the infancy of biotechnology, the BioIndustry Association (BIA) is the trade association for innovative enterprises involved in UK bioscience. Members include emerging and more established bioscience companies; pharmaceutical companies; academic, research and philanthropic organisations; and service providers to the bioscience sector. The BIA represents the interests of its members to a broad section of stakeholders, from government and regulators to patient groups and the media. Our goal is to secure the UK's position as a global hub and as the best location for innovative research and commercialisation, enabling our world-leading research base to deliver healthcare solutions that can truly make a difference to people's lives.   

For further information, please go to www.bioindustry.org and twitter.com/BIA_UK

 

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