contents

UK lags far behind in key medical technology

---

Last month saw the launch of Oxford Biomedica, the first gene therapy firm to be quoted on the London stock market. However, according to a report published by the Science Policy Research Unit, the UK still lags far behind the USA in the commercialisation of gene therapy.

The study, which is funded by the European Union, suggests that gene therapy is going to become one of the key medical technologies in the next 25 years. However, despite the fact that UK research in this area is world class, the researchers identify a "commercialisation gap" in the UK and Europe.

According to the study, some 40-50 biotechnology companies are working on gene therapy in the USA, compared with less than ten in continental Europe and only a couple in the UK. The creation of companies based on this important new technology is being hindered by a lack of govenment initiatives to facilitate technology transfer and the creation of new high technology firms.

According to Paul Martin, one of the report's authors, "a significant number of UK researchers are collaborating with American and other foreign firms due to lack of support by UK industry. Unless the commercialisation gap is bridged, then high-tech jobs based on British research will be created abroad."

The small size of the British and European gene therapy industry is not due to a lack of interest from the European pharmaceutical industry. However, nearly all of the $1.5 billion which these large pharmaceutical companies are investing in gene and cell therapy firms is being spent in the United States.

The report concludes that without a greater number of gene therapy firms in the UK, both British researchers and European pharmaceutical companies will continue to work with US firms, helping to strengthen the US biotechnology industry and creating skilled jobs in the USA. Addressing the commercialisation gap must, therefore, be a high priority for British European technology policy.

contents | next article

Friday January 17th 1997