Report: U.S. Biotechnology Sector to Outpace Industry in Europe

The U.S. biotechnology sector will progress further than its counterpart in Europe in the next year, according to an annual “state of the industry” report released at the start of BIO 2009, a four-day biotechnology conference in Atlanta, Ga.

Ninety-three percent of the 365 executives who participated in the survey said the overall global climate for biotechnology has deteriorated in the past year. The survey in which the report is based upon was conducted by international intellectual property firm Marks &Clerk.

Most respondents said the global financial crisis was behind the deteriorating biotechnology climate. And the crisis has prompted investors to shy away from risky business propositions, further eroding confidence, nine out of 10 survey respondents claimed. The financial crisis has affected timescales, too: Executives said the time it takes to grant patents and approve new drugs has increased in the last year.

The mood, however, was better in the United States than in Europe. Eighty-four percent of respondents believe President Barack Obama’s administration has strengthened America’s position in the biotechnology sector. Obama has accomplished this by increasing federal research spending and adopting a more permissive stem cell experiment policy, according to the survey.

“While the global outlook remains finely balanced for the industry, the United States is undeniably signaling that it is once again a friendly environment for the industry,” Paul Chapman, a co-author of the report and a partner at Marks &Clerk. “Europe and the United Kingdom cannot afford to watch from the sidelines and should move speedily in terms of policy to ensure they are not left behind.”

Biotechnology executives believed the prognosis for the sector is worse in Britian than in any other European country. And more than half (53 percent) believed Europe is in “serious danger” of being left behind the United States.

Sixty percent of respondents said the outlook for biotechnology would start to improve over the next 12 months. But a large majority said they expect the independent sector to continue to shrink as biotechnology firms run out of money or are purchased by large drug firms.