United Kingdom

UK plans huge research center

John Carroll — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 08:49:23 -0400

U.K. officials have been touting plans for a new, state-of-the-art Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. The Medical Research Council plans to use patent income to fund the cost--about £200 million. They believe that building a new research center will help the country retain and attract top scientists while forging a new generation of therapeutics. New hospital facilities are also being planned in the project, which will bring the total cost to close to £500 million. And that fits in with their plan to meld medical services with research. Report

UK blueprints $400M biotech lab of the future

John Carroll — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 09:04:00 -0400

UK officials have nailed down a big part of the funding needed for a new "laboratory of the future" that will cost close to $400 million to build. The facility is being designed as the flagship research center at the Cambridge BioMedical Campus. Scientists at the prestigious Laboratory for Molecular Biology have won 13 Nobel prizes over the years.

‘‘The Laboratory of Molecular Biology has an outstanding track record as an innovator in medical research," says MRC CEO Sir Leszek Borysiewicz. "The new building will allow the MRC to build on the LMB's position as a globally competitive research centre and continue to attract the best researchers.''

- read the release

India passes U.K. in number of science PhDs

John Carroll — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 09:02:55 -0400

India has been steadily building up the ranks of PhD-level scientists in the country, and now a new report shows the subcontinent has passed the U.K. in the number of scientists with doctorates. Between 1983 and 2003 the number of PhD-level scientists in India swelled from 3,886 to 6,318, well ahead of the 3,780 scientists with a PhD working in the U.K.

In order to make key inroads in drug development work, the country knows that it has to have the requisite brainpower to attract the global biotech industry. That's why the Indian government wanted to find out more about how the country stacked up compared to many developed countries as well as other countries in Asia. India is still far behind the U.S., though, where the number of science PhDs has grown to 26,891.

- read the report from the Times of India

Bleak market will slam European research efforts

Tue, 13 May 2008 06:59:59 -0400

One of the great pioneers of the British biotech industry, Sir Chris Evans, is fretting that turmoil in the public markets will have a particularly harsh affect on drug discovery work in Europe. With too few successful development programs, biotech is seen as far too risky by investors, says Evans, who started Enzymatix, one of the U.K.'s first biotech start-ups. Now, even as the Prime Minister vows to make the U.K. a world leader in genetics and stem cell research, Evans says the subprime credit crisis will drive investors away from biotechnology as they seek safe havens for their money.

The article notes that the numbers look bad for European biotech. Investment in the sector has plunged over the past four years, and 1,400 private biotechs on the continent lose a collective £2.5 billion a year. Half of those companies have less than one year's amount of needed capital.

"It is a perilous time for U.K. biotech," says Evans in a discussion with the Telegraph. "This 2008 market is going to be unforgiving."

- check out the report from the Telegraph

U.K. proffers €56M for 12 new research units

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 06:59:59 -0400

A dozen new Biomedical Research Units created under the U.K.'s National Institute for Health Research will receive more than €56 million to fund translational work on ailments that include obesity and heart disease. Each of the BRUs match a university with the National Health Service (NHS) Trust. And the public funding is intended to finance work in research areas that are usually starved of funding. Their work is also intended to complement R&D programs at the 12 existing NIHR Biomedical Research Centres.

"Together, these are among the most outstanding centres of medical research in the world," said the Department of Health.

- read the story in PharmaTimes

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