CEO Update - 14 July 2025
Largest ever UK biotech acquisition
Merck's (MSD) $10 billion acquisition of Verona Pharma is a historic moment for UK biotech, the largest-ever takeover in value of a British biopharma company, and a clear vote of confidence in the Verona team and their COPD drug, Ohtuvayre, the first novel inhaled treatment for COPD in over two decades.
Verona started in the UK, setting up its company in London in 2005. It then expanded to the US market in 2017, where it raised $200 million in 2020. Last week, Verona was bought by MSD for $10 billion. It’s a clear example of how British biotech is globally competitive, and of how UK money markets were unable to support a significant UK growth opportunity in the last decade.
Steve Bates OBE
CEO, BIA
It’s both an incredible success story for UK growth and a salutary lesson of “look what you could have won” to the City of London. It’s why the scale-up funding agenda is front and centre of our work - if our financial institutions are unable to effectively support economic growth in our sector, then it’s no surprise others will step in and take advantage.
The Merck deal highlights the critical value of high-potential biotechs and the global appetite for innovative therapies. The fact that companies similar to Verona are continually established in the UK is a testament to how much we are getting right in our ecosystem. We are striving to create in the UK a growth-supporting capital market so the economy benefits fully from the innovation we create and companies have a greater choice of investors.
I will watch the Chancellor's speech at the Mansion House on Tuesday
with great interest. I know she understands and is supportive of our sector growing, and is prepared to make changes to support industrial strategy in this area.
British Business Bank makes £500 million diversity commitment
Part of strengthening the UK funding ecosystem is diversifying the talent base entering and supporting first-time fund managers. It’s great to see the British Business Bank (BBB) taking a lead on this with their new £500 million commitment to support diverse and emerging fund managers. Fresh perspectives will be engaged and untapped potential ignited by this move.
KalVista Pharmaceuticals’ FDA approval helped by Innovate UK’s Biomedical Catalyst
The news that FDA approval has been granted to KalVista Pharmaceuticals for EKTERLY (sebetralstat), a treatment of hereditary angioedema, is a strong endorsement of Innovate UK’s Biomedical Catalyst. It’s great to see a programme supported by BIA, led and delivered by Innovate UK, leading to an approved new treatment. The BMC scheme, by providing grants to support SMEs, progresses preclinical activities that would have stalled without such backing. Ekterlyr’s approval, therefore, brings a noteworthy new treatment to those in need while validating the Biomedical Catalyst investment model.
Influencing and shaping our sector report
Our latest Influencing and shaping our sector report for Q2 has just been published and is ready for you to read today. It demonstrates the concrete actions BIA has taken to ensure the voice of our members is heard at the highest levels of government and across the life sciences ecosystem. This quarter, our efforts were particularly focused on key policy discussions surrounding the Spending Review and the Industrial Strategy, as well as our impactful 25th annual Parliament Day.
Reflections on our BIA Summer Party
Our sold-out BIA Summer Party last week was a tremendous success. We were blessed with good weather, and I was pleased to see old ties being strengthened while new ones were forged. A strong undercurrent of optimism characterised the event as conversation centred on the innovation on display in our ecosystem. Thank you to everyone who came for making it such a great evening and contributed to the positive atmosphere.
