BIA Chairman appointed UK Government’s Life Sciences Investment Envoy
Dr Dan Mahony, Chair of the UK BioIndustry Association (BIA), has been appointed Life Sciences Investment Envoy by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
The Envoy will champion the UK life sciences sector to national and international investors to help increase investment in scaling life science companies.
The role has been created following the recommendations of the Life Sciences Scale-Up Taskforce – an industry-led, expert group made up of life sciences venture capitalists, institutional investors, and financial and life sciences trade associations, including the BIA. Its aim, as set out in the Life Sciences Vision, was to drive progress on the ease with which life science companies can start, grow, and scale-up in the UK, with a focus on increasing investment from institutional investors, such as pension funds.
The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Grant Shapps MP, made the announcement at the Life Sciences Investor Roadshow event in central London, organised by the UK Government and BIA.
Steve Bates OBE, CEO of the BIA, said:
“Dan brings a wealth of talent and experience to this role and is highly respected in both the life sciences and investment communities.
“The UK is the third global life sciences hub, rivalling Boston Massachusetts and San Francisco for the quality of their science and start-up culture. The sector has enjoyed record levels of investment in recent years but scaling companies are too reliant on capital from overseas, meaning we are not reaping the true economic benefits of our science base. This is because there are still too few UK-based investors, including pension funds, who understand the opportunity on their doorstep.
“As a result of our campaigning, regulatory barriers preventing pension funds from investing in venture capital are being removed and following the pandemic there is a greater awareness and understanding of the UK’s strength in life sciences innovation. Dan will be the catalyst to bring this all together with the ultimate goal of increasing the availability of scale-up capital for growing life science companies.”
Notes to Editors:
About Dr Dan Mahony, Entrepreneur In Residence, Evotec
Dan was appointed as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Evotec (UK) Limited in October 2021. Prior to joining Evotec, Dan was Co-Head of Healthcare at Polar Capital where he launched the healthcare business in 2007 growing it to over $4 billion of assets under management. Dan was formerly head of European healthcare research at Morgan Stanley, an analyst at ING Barings Furman Selz in New York and a research scientist including at Schering Plough, CA. He has over 25 years of experience within global healthcare covering biotechnology, medical technology and healthcare services.
Dan chairs the board of the BioIndustry Association (BIA), the industry trade association for UK life sciences, and holds non-executive directorships at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Trellus Health (an LSE-listed digital health company), Celmatix (a privately held, preclinical-stage women’s health biotech in NY focused on ovarian biology), Keepabl (a UK-based, privately owned provider of SaaS solutions for GDPR compliance), Apian (a privately held healthcare drone startup, founded by NHS doctors in training), and also acts as a mentor for the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Training Programme, which aims to support junior doctors and health professionals in developing their entrepreneurial aspirations during clinical training.