CEO Update Monday 1 October

UK biotech companies have already raised more than £1.5 billion in 2018, surpassing the 2017 annual total of £1.2 billion – that’s the headline finding from our latest Biotech Financing Update with Informa Pharma Intelligence released last Friday. In the second half of the year, the data shows an acceleration in venture capital fundraisings and an uplift in amounts raised in Initial Public Offerings (IPO). You can download the full report form the BIA website.

Today we have launched two new explainer documents on engineering biology and cell and gene therapy. UK bioscience companies are at the forefront of these innovative disciplines and it is a great pleasure to publish these reports both to build wider understanding of these areas and to showcase the pioneering work being undertaken by BIA member companies. As the respective international communities for engineering biology and cell and gene therapy meet this week at Synbiobeta 2018 and the Cell and Gene Meeting on the Mesa, I hope these reports make a valuable contribution to both UK and global discussions. In addition the report from our 8^th annual BIA and MHRA regulatory conference was released on Thursday. Download the report from the website here.

In further good industry news, it was an honour to be at the opening of the new Purolite Life Sciences facility and to see this important new manufacturing centre. Purolite have shown a commitment to the UK biotech ecosystem and the facility will help to expand the UK’s ability to manufacture cutting edge medicines here in the UK.

Party conference season continues this week with the Conservative Party Conference taking place in Birmingham. Our Policy and Public Affairs team are there, attending business day and holding a roundtable on innovation in the NHS with ABPI and BIVDA morning. The team hosted a parallel event at Labour Party Conference last week, which was very well attended by bioscience companies, charities, healthcare organisations and MPs. Look out for a blog with a full round-up of our party conference activity in the next coming weeks.

Looking forward to the Autumn, the government has announced that the Autumn Budget will take place on Monday 28 October. The BIA has submitted our proposals for specific fiscal policies to support the UK’s bioscience sector, including: giving pre-revenue SMEs the option to surrender R&D Allowance losses arising on capital expenditure for up-front cash credits; government grants for manufacturing investments; and updating the R&D Tax Credits scheme to better reflect 21st Century life sciences R&D, notably the purchase of data for R&D purposes. We’ve also raised the issue that many of our smallest members struggle to offer competitive salaries to access the talent that they need and have asked the government to conduct a review.  

Staying on the theme of financing, on Friday, we submitted a response on behalf of the sector to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee’s inquiry on the balance of science funding. This is a timely inquiry given the government’s ambition to increase UK R&D investment to 2.4% of GDP, the publication of UKRI’s Strategic Prospectus in May and next year’s Comprehensive Spending Review. In the submission, we emphasised that public R&D funding leverages private investment and highlighted the value of sector specific funding from Innovate UK and the Biomedical Catalyst. We welcomed the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund as a mechanism to deliver the vision set out in the Life Sciences Industrial Strategy. We also stressed the importance of the overall commercial environment for encouraging the business R&D investments required to hit the 2.4% target, including the tax regime, availability of patient capital and access to global talent. BIA’s full submission will be available on our website shortly.

Finally don’t forget to book your places for the upcoming UK Bioscience Forum and The 15th Annual bioProcessUK Conference,  which are fast approaching. The Forum will hear the latest from Sir Mark Walport on government innovation policy and panel discussions this year are focused on themes member companies have asked us to explore with the sector's leading speakers. In addition there is an ever popular exhibition hall, 1-1 partnering and extensive networking. The day will be topped-off by the ever-popular BIA Autumn Reception.