Versus Arthritis

Reflecting on our 12 months partnership as Bioindustry Association’s charity of the year.

Monday, October 12th is World Arthritis Day and our charity partner, Versus Arthritis, are encouraging everyone to share a message of strength on social media.

The launch of our annual finance report: ‘Global and growing: UK biotech financing in 2019’ was well received by members and the media.  The report shows that the UK biotech sector is heading into the new decade in a very strong position. 2019 was the third best year recorded by the BIA and the fifth consecutive year in which more than £1bn was raised. We have seen a drop in investment globally, across all countries and sectors but it’s clear that UK biotech companies remain an attractive investment opportunity for global investors.

Breaking news today that Moderna has released initial data on their mRNA vaccine’s Phase 3 study, which met statistical criteria with a vaccine efficacy of 94.5%. The phase 3 trial was conducted in the US in partnership with BARDA and Operation Warp Speed and based on these interim safety and efficacy data, Moderna intends to submit an application for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the coming weeks. It’s great news and following last week’s announcement by Pfizer/Biontech, shows the importance of smaller biotech companies in our innovation ecosystem.