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Print article Strength in science With Europe’s largest healthcare bioscience sector, the UK’s bioscience companies are ideal partners for US firms looking to tap into this innovative and well-supported sector, as Dr Clive Dix, Chairman, BioIndustry Association, explains
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The UK is Europe’s largest, most developed and most successful healthcare bioscience sector: only the US has a larger, more developed sector and has been more successful globally. Beyond the healthcare bioscience sector, the UK has significant scientific strengths in agricultural biotechnology and the developing area of industrial biotechnology.
The foundation of the success of the UK’s healthcare bioscience sector is high-quality science – both in academia and industry. However, it takes more than science to make a successful industry. The UK has what it takes to allow successful companies to grow from scientific ideas. It has the highly-skilled scientists, innovators, business people that understand the science, a supportive government and an ethical, regulatory and financial environment that supports the development of companies in this sector. The UK accounts for more than 20% of all bioscience publications, citations and patents in the European Union, which demonstrates the strength of the UK knowledge base in bioscience. Once again, the UK is second only to the US. Additionally, funding for cancer research in the UK, on a per capita basis, leads Europe, and is expected to surpass that in the US.
The challenge for all bioscience companies is to convert their scientific research into innovations that bring new medicines to patients that need them. There are more than 350 companies in the UK’s healthcare bioscience sector (Critical 1, figures for the year ending 31 December 2005, published 2007). These companies have almost 20,000 highly-skilled employees, half of whom are in research and development. The UK bioscience sector has particular expertise in neurosciences, oncology, infectious diseases, vaccines, monoclonal antibodies and stem cells. Latest data shows that healthcare bioscience companies in the UK generated revenues of e3.9bn ($5.8bn) and invested e1.5bn ($2.2bn) in research and development. The UK has the largest biological medicines development pipeline in Europe, with almost 50% more products in development than the nearest competitor (see figure). Bioscience companies are currently developing 200 biological medicines in the UK, an increase of 5% on 2006.
 Since the current UK government came to power in 1997, the bioscience sector has benefited from significant support |
In addition to the products in the development pipeline, the UK bioscience industry has developed a number of products that are already on the market. Humira, a monoclonal antibody treatment for rheumatoid arthritis – which was discovered by Cambridge Antibody Technology in the UK and is marketed by Abbott – is one of the biggest-selling biological medicines globally. In 2005, Humira became the first UK-developed biological medicine to reach “blockbuster” status with sales of $1.4bn. Following sales of $2bn in 2006, Abbott recently announced $3.1bn sales for Humira in 2007.
It is successes such as this that drive financial interest in the bioscience sector. Over the past few years, UK healthcare bioscience companies have been involved in numerous mergers, acquisitions and collaborations with major, global pharmaceutical companies. Companies have recognized the potential value of unique technologies being developed in the UK and these deals reinforce the evidence of the strength and quality of bioscience in the UK.
Three significant acquisitions during the last year involving bioscience companies in the UK were:
- In February, the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca, acquired Arrow Therapeutics, which is focused on drug discovery, research and development of antiviral therapies, for $150m.
- In March, Japan’s largest pharmaceutical company, Takeda, acquired Paradigm Therapeutics for an undisclosed fee. Paradigm focused on drug discovery to combat CNS disorders, endocrinology and metabolic-related diseases.
- In October, the American pharmaceutical major, Wyeth, acquired Haptogen, which has a patent-protected technology on developing antibodies against targets normally too small to elicit an immune response and a novel drug discovery techniques based on the shark immune system.
The number of acquisitions is vastly outnumbered by the large number of collaborations and licensing agreements between UK bioscience companies and pharmaceutical companies and international companies, many of which are based in the US. These agreements give companies access to the high-quality science and innovation of their partners.
 The UK has the largest biological medicines development pipeline in Europe |
One area in which the UK is a world leader is that of stem-cell research. UK academics are at the forefront of the rapid growth in knowledge of basic stem cell science, while US researchers are constrained by the decision of the Bush government to restrict embryonic stem-cell research and the knock-on effects of that decision. In addition, the UK has the world’s first stem-cell bank, which works with and for the scientific and clinical community to assure the quality of human stem-cell lines used in research and therapy. Since the current UK government came to power in 1997, the bioscience sector has benefited from significant support and the government’s leadership on bioscience has been outstanding. The government has taken action to improve the working environment for bioscience in the UK. It has shown commitment to address animal rights extremism, and as a result the number of actions by extremists has reduced considerably.
To support small and medium-sized companies, the government introduced R&D Tax Credits. In addition, it has shown the willingness to tackle pre-emption rights and made it easier for small companies to raise money on the stock market. The government has also increased overall investment in the science base, which has been hugely important for the bioscience sector. With strong science and capable people, UK bioscience companies are the ideal partners for companies in the US seeking to develop innovative medicines for patients. Additionally, the UK’s financial and institutional support regimes coupled with a proportionate regulatory environment make the UK the leading European location for bioscience.
For more information, visit: www.bioindustry.org
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