CEO Update | Monday 24 September
It’s European Biotech week, part of global biotech week, do check out #biotechweek on twitter to see what’s going on. Here the UK sector goes from strength to strength. BIA member KalVista opened their new facility as anchor tenants at the Porton Science Park last week. It’s great to see a winner of the Biomedical Catalyst scaling and developing fantastically. With significant new funding via inward investment from the NASDAQ market last month KalVista are developing small molecule plasma kallikrein inhibitors initially targeting hereditary angioedema (HAE) and diabetic macular edema (DME). Congratulations are also due to member Cobra Biologics who were presented with the Queen’s Award 2018 for Enterprise, in the International Trade category on Thursday in recognition of their commercial success in providing services to its global customer base. The award was presented by H.M Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire, Mr Ian Dudson. BIA were delighted to join the ceremony and celebrations, along with many others from the sector.
Cobra Biologics were presented with the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade 2018
On Wednesday last week the BIA co-hosted an event with the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult and ABPI, exploring how the recently established Advanced Therapy Treatment Centres will work as a national network to overcome barriers to the adoption of cell and gene therapies in the NHS. In the morning, a representative from each of the Centres and the London Network gave an update on their progress and key projects. This was followed by panel sessions and break-out groups to discuss the specifics of the infrastructure, affordability and reimbursement challenges for the adoption of advanced therapies. I would like to thank the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult who, as the body responsible for overseeing the Centres, did the heavy lifting on the organisation of this event. I know our members greatly appreciated the opportunity to find out more about how the centres are working and how industry can continue to engage with them as they become more established. Given all this partnership work it’s disappointing not to see NICE able to recommend cell therapies in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma yet. We will of course keep you updated on progress.
In UK politics party conference season is in full swing with the BIA represented at all the gatherings. The Labour Party meets in Liverpool this week. We are seeing more of what a Jeremy Corbyn-led government would mean for business (workers on Boards and with access to shares) as well as moves (perhaps) towards a second referendum on Brexit. Migration policy is the focus of Conservative thinking – and could be the centre piece of next week’s Conservative conference in Birmingham. As background, the Migration Advisory Committee last week published its report on EEA migration in the UK. They report a number of key findings on the impact of EEA workers. They found no evidence that EEA workers reduce the number of employment opportunities or wages for UK-born workers. Critically for our sector, they found that EEA workers have a positive impact on productivity and that high-skilled migrants increase innovation. Some recommendations in the report include that any migration policy changes should make migration of high-skilled workers to the UK easier than that of low-skilled workers and that the cap on the number of migrants under Tier 2 should be abolished. The BIA would welcome any migration policy which allows for high-skilled workers to continue to come to the UK, and develop our most innovative sectors.
Staying on the theme of movement, scientists are waging a legal effort against a handful of airlines who are refusing to transport animals which are to be used for research purposes. The Times picked this up with a supportive leader column. The US National Association for Biomedical Research has filed a complaint with the US Department of Transport on the issue, as scientists find it increasingly difficult to source animals which are essential to their research. The BIA remains committed to the Concordat on Openness in Animal Research and to communicating the critical role animals have in biomedical research.
It was fantastic to see that The European Union Contest for Young Scientists awarded one of its €7,000 top prizes to a medtech project. The winner was a 17-year-old Canadian national, Nicolas Fedrigo. Screws placed above and below the vertebrae in spinal fusions can often lead to injuries in patients, and Fedrigo has created a sensor-enabled probe to try and improve this problem. It’s great to see a European scheme like this opening its door to the globe, counting Canadian and Chinese nationals amongst its winners. This foreshadows a vote of confidence for international collaboration on science continuing in the wake of Brexit, and the recognition of talent on a global scale by European initiatives.
To wrap up with a BIA focus, our board election is now open, and you can find out more on the candidates here. Please use your vote. We also have our Meet the Chinese Investors event on Wednesday and our financing breakfast this Friday. Friday will also bring a Brexit update in the form of our usual monthly webinar, where I’ll update on the sectorially relevant “no deal” technical notices (latest tranche expected today) so tune in if you’d like to catch up with all the latest. I hope to see you at a BIA event soon.