After much suspense and hesitation, the matter is finally settled: the United Kingdom will be joining the European scientific research fund Horizon, which the country had previously left since Brexit. This decision is welcomed with joy by the British biotechnology industry, as they see Horizon as a way to capitalize on the kingdom’s academic excellence in this field and thus materialize the research projects conducted by British scientists.
« C’est une excellente nouvelle ! Le fait de réintégrer Horizon Europe va conférer un coup de pouce bienvenu à l’industrie britannique des sciences du vivant et, plus important encore, soutenir la recherche et les chercheurs qui œuvrent à résoudre les défis qui se posent aujourd’hui à l’échelle mondiale« I cannot reword. »
Cap sur les biotechs
The agreement is also a triumph for the British Prime Minister. Since coming into power, Rishi Sunak has been striving to promote his country’s excellence in the field of cutting-edge technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and biotechnology.
« Le Royaume-Uni est le premier écosystème européen des biotechs, et le troisième au monde après les États-Unis et la Chine, que ce soit en matière d’investissements en capital-risque, en nombre de startups ou encore en quantité de brevets déposés « I cannot reword. »
The UK’s progress in this field was particularly demonstrated during the pandemic, with the world’s first study proving the effectiveness of a vaccine at the University of Oxford. It should be noted that this study subsequently led to the commercialization of the vaccine by AstraZeneca. The British biotechnology sector employs around 300,000 people and alone accounts for a third of all European startups.
Je ne peux pas reformuler.
Several measures have recently been implemented to maintain and promote this national sector of excellence. Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has launched the « Compact » program. It aims to redirect a portion of the funds invested by British pension funds into innovative startups from key sectors, including life sciences. The government of Rishi Sunak has also planned to increase R&D spending by a third, reaching £20 billion per year in 2024 and 2025.
In May, a report commissioned by the government also provided several recommendations to speed up the conduct of clinical treatments. A key aspect to facilitate the work of professionals and enable them to launch products on the market more easily. As a result, the government has committed to reducing the administrative constraints required to initiate a phase of clinical trials for commercial purposes, as well as unlocking a total of £121 million over three years.
Steve Bates a déclaré que de nouvelles mesures pourraient être introduites lors de la présentation du prochain budget en novembre.
« The government is considering the implementation of a support program led by the British Business Bank, which could work in coordination with Compact. Tax credits for innovative companies are also being examined, as well as renewed investments in scientific research. »
Les atouts du Royaume-Uni
Steve Bates estime que la politique du gouvernement actuel est davantage dans la continuité que dans la rupture par rapport à celle de ses prédécesseurs.
« The successive governments have all emphasized the development of the British biotechnology and life sciences industry for the past fifteen years. They have supported academic excellence, provided tax benefits to businesses, ensured strong intellectual property protection, and made efforts to attract global capital to support local startups.»
British universities are one of the country’s greatest assets in this field. Cambridge, which has an excellent molecular biology laboratory, Oxford, University College London, and Edinburgh are all centers of excellence, with publications that are among the most cited in the world. Smaller universities, such as Aberdeen, also serve as hubs of competitiveness: ten biotech startups, including TauRx, which is developing a treatment for Alzheimer’s and has raised $800 million since its foundation, have recently emerged from these universities.
The capital also has a number of facilities that can provide a platform for biotech startups. Located near King’s Cross station, well-known to Eurostar passengers, the Francis Crick Institute is the largest biomedical research center in Europe, resulting from a partnership between several universities and health institutes. Over the past decade, it has brought together doctors, academics, and entrepreneurs to advance life sciences. It has facilitated the emergence of numerous startups, including Paradromics, which develops brain-computer communication interfaces and has received funding from the US Darpa, as well as GammaDelta Therapeutics, a startup specializing in immunotherapy that has attracted $100 million in investments.
The Francis Crick Institute is also located near the offices of DeepMind, a British artificial intelligence startup acquired by Google. These types of synergies also contribute to making the British economy a hub of excellence in the biotech industry.
Furthermore, the young startups in the sector can also rely on the numerous incubators and accelerators in the British capital, including Level39. This collaborative workspace and community of entrepreneurs is located amidst the skyscrapers that populate the Canary Wharf peninsula, a former dock area that has been completely renovated. It has become a stronghold of the local financial and technological industry. From the 39th floor of the building, the approximately 180 startups housed on-site have a panoramic view of the city… And of the construction site of Europe’s largest commercial laboratory, located just a stone’s throw away and scheduled to open in 2026. Over three hectares of laboratories and offices will be made available to biotechnology and life sciences actors.
Des investissements trop faibles en phase avancée
However, like other European ecosystems, the United Kingdom also suffers from a lack of funding for the most mature startups. Last year, only 22 innovative British biotech companies raised over £30 million. In comparison, there were 400 in the United States. This lack of investors willing to contribute in the later stages leads many of them to relocate to the United States and go public on the Nasdaq, just like Zura, a young British biotech startup that joined the American index last March.
These mature companies that relocate abroad represent financial flows and talents that will not be reinvested in the British ecosystem to allow local startups to grow in turn.
Selon Steve Bates, « We need to ensure that the investor community is more familiar with the functioning of the biotech market. The Compact program represents a first step in this direction: it is not just about having funds, but also knowing who and how to distribute them. It also seems necessary to work on this with our European partners, as each country individually cannot gather the necessary funds to compete with the Chinese and American ecosystems.»
