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UK has strongest R&D pipeline in Europe, says new report

A new report released by the BioIndustry Association (BIA) and Informa Pharma Intelligence has revealed that the UK has the strongest research and development (R&D) pipeline in Europe.

Additionally, the report — ‘Pipeline Progressing: the UK’s global bioscience cluster in 2017’ — has revealed that more of the country’s biotech companies are maturing and moving through the financing life cycle with UK biotech IPOs raising over double the money in 2017 compared with 2016.

“The UK’s impressive preclinical and clinical pipeline shows the strength and capability of the UK biotech ecosystem to produce fantastic science that attracts talent and funding from across the globe. There is money to be made as this pipeline develops. The Patient Capital Review means 2018 is the year UK pension funds will be nudged into backing this key sector of the future UK economy,” said BIA CEO, Steve Bates. “It is also very encouraging to see that UK biotech companies are scaling and maturing at pace, and the variety of funding options open to them means we can build the third global cluster in bioscience in the UK.”

As reported by the BIA the key statistics from the report are as follows:

  • The UK has the strongest pipeline in Europe across all preclinical and clinical stages, with 351 preclinical products, 43 phase I, 70 phase II and 15 phase III
  • UK biotech company IPOs raised more than twice as much money in 2017 (£234 million) than in 2016 (£105 million)
  • UK biotech raised more on the public markets than in venture capital as UK companies matured and progressed through the funding lifecycle with £515 million raised in venture capital, £234 million raised in IPOs and £452 million raised in follow on funding
  • LSE’s Main Market has seen major indirect investment through vehicles that fund the biopharma sector including Arix Bioscience (£113 million) and Biopharma Credit (£606 million)
  • The 2017 IPO listings on Nasdaq (NuCana plc, Nightstar Therapeutics and Verona) show that there is global demand for UK biotech companies

Informa executive editor, John Hodgson, commented: “Despite Brexit, UK biopharma investment is internationalising. London's markets provide cash for biotech globally, UK biotechs access international money, and venture capital has migrated upstream.”

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