The Mayor of London Boris Johnson has confirmed the capital’s position as a leading centre for life science research and development on the second day of his US trade mission to drum up new business for the capital.
The Mayor has announced that two major American healthcare companies are joining the global rush to London by investing tens of millions of pounds in the city.
Today's announcement comes less than a year since he launched MedCity - an organisation that aims to help the life sciences industry in London and the greater south east of England to thrive.
It coincides with Boston company Mobiquity today announcing that they are investing £13m over the next two years in a new London base. The company, which specialises in mobile engagement, is moving to London to tap into the capital’s strengths in digital health and is currently working with Pfizer to deliver better patient outcomes by creating digital technologies that enable people to manage their own health.
In addition, Gilead Sciences, a Fortune 500 US biotechnology company, has also announced that it will create a new UK commercial headquarters in Holborn, alongside expanding its international operations in Uxbridge and UK research and development headquarters in Cambridge.
The new London headquarters and expansions in Uxbridge and in Cambridge represent an increased investment of £13m and a doubling of Gilead’s UK workforce by the end of 2015 to 600, with 400 based in London.
The company’s presence in London will foster closer partnerships with clinicians, patient groups and NHS and government organisations, as Gilead continues its efforts to broaden access to innovative medicines.
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson said: “London and Boston are two of the greatest scientific cities on the planet and our phenomenal research institutions are collaborating closely to help spur the discovery of new treatments to tackle disease. Gilead and Mobiquity’s moves to London further underline the growing importance of the life sciences industry in the UK as we look to ensure that this crucial sector becomes a key contributor to the capital’s growth and health.”
London and Boston are partners on a range of projects to improve health worldwide. University College London spin out company Abcodia is commercialising technology licensed from Massachusetts General Hospital to develop the world’s first test for ovarian cancer that is accurate enough to screen large populations of women.
A partnership between Imperial College London and Harvard is bringing together 1,000 scientists and collecting data from over 20,000 patients worldwide to understand leading global causes of ill health and premature death. King’s College London and Harvard are also working together on research that measures brain stiffness to an unprecedented level of precision, in order to investigate whether changes in cortical regions in the brain could be used to predict Alzheimer’s disease.
Dr Eliot Forster, Executive Chair of MedCity, said: “The UK and USA are terrifically well-matched life sciences partners, and I’m delighted to see the traffic across the Atlantic increasing. London and the south east is in the midst of a sustained period of enormous ambition and investment in life sciences, and that is attracting great people and companies who enrich our ecosystem further. Gilead and Mobiquity are excellent examples – very different companies doing very different things, both at the forefront of the changing healthcare environment.”
Since its launch last year MedCity’s work has focused on supporting both international companies and home-grown entrepreneurs to do business in London and the greater south east of England.
Activities include promoting life sciences within the investment community by building a community of angel investors and partnering with the London Stock Exchange to engage generalist brokers and investors.
It is leading work to position London as a leading centre for digital health research and entrepreneurship, and supporting entrepreneurs and emerging companies to understand the route to market, for example by mapping innovation adoption paths in the National Health Service.
London and the greater south east is a globally leading centre for life sciences, with four of the world’s top 10 universities plus leading medical research centres including the Wellcome Trust, the Medical Research Council, Cancer Research UK, and the national Cell Therapy Catapult, focusing on stem cell research and industrialisation. The region is being boosted further by a wave of significant new investment.
In 2015, the Francis Crick Institute will bring together 1,500 scientists under one roof; construction is well under way at Imperial West, which is co-locating researchers and businesses on 25 acres; and plans have been unveiled for UCL East on the site of the 2012 Olympic Park, a cross-discipline enterprise and innovation centre with a particular focus on health and biological technologies.
In Whitechapel, east London, Queen Mary University of London plans to build a life sciences institute, In south London, the Institute of Cancer Research is creating the world’s second largest cancer research campus, while in Cambridge AstraZeneca is building a Global R&D Centre bringing together 2,000 employees.
The region is also at the heart of the world’s largest genome-mapping programme, the 100,000 Genomes Project, which will sequence the genetic codes of 100,000 people with cancer or rare diseases and their families by 2017.
The major longitudinal study will provide an invaluable set of patient data, pushing forward an individualised understanding of how diseases develop and enabling the development of targeted, personalised therapies.
Eleven Genomics Medicine Centres now set up to support the project, including five in London, Oxford and Cambridge.
The UK biotechnology, healthcare and life sciences industries are also in robust financial health. 2014 saw strong levels of public market activity in healthcare, with £1.25bn raised in life sciences IPOs and follow-on offerings on the London Stock Exchange.
Over the past five years, the FTSE Healthcare Indices have significantly outperformed others, with the FTSE All Share Healthcare Index rising by 10% in 2014, compared to a 3% drop for the FTSE All Share. The UK has the largest pipeline of new pharmaceutical product candidates in Europe, with over 460 in 2013.
Notes to editors
The Mayor of London Boris Johnson is leading a trade mission to America's East Coast aimed at strengthening economic and cultural ties between London and the United States.
During the six day visit the Mayor will meet with senior public officials and top business leaders in Boston, New York City and Washington, in a bid to ensure that London remains a key destination for US investment and American tourists and students.
The Mayor wants to build on the warm relations that already exist with the States and to consolidate healthy collaborations between London and these three major cities.
About MedCity
Established by the Mayor of London with the capital’s three Academic Health Science Centres - Imperial College Academic Health Centre, King’s Health Partners, and UCL Partners - MedCity is a unique collaboration that brings together the outstanding life sciences strengths of London and the greater south east. Over the next 20 years, MedCity will position the region as a world-leading, interconnected hub for research, development, manufacturing and commercialisation by championing collaboration and entrepreneurship, promoting a joined up and globally distinct life sciences offer, and providing a visible ‘go-to’ point for industry and investors. www.medcitylondon.com
Recent US healthcare investment in London
Merck – announced a £42m investment in November 2014 to create a new London licensing hub, expand research in Hertfordshire, south east England, and fund clinical research in oncology and dementia Pfizer – a new Gene Therapy Unit in London focused on rare diseases, to be led by King’s College London’s Professor Michael Linden, announced in December 2014 Johnson & Johnson – J&J Innovation Centre established in London in 2013 to accelerate the world’s best early-stage science and develop new healthcare solutions.
Cell therapy research in London Cell transplantation helps paralysed man recover function Pioneering cell transplantation treatment developed at University College London has enabled a man paralysed following a knife attack to walk again using a frame. The technique used cells from the nose, called olfactory ensheathing cells, which allow the nerve cells that give us a sense of smell to grow back when they are damaged.
Research published in Cell Transplantation in October 2014 – more information at: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/1014/211014-UCL-research-helps… Bespoke replacement organs start clinical trials Spin-out company Videregen, formed from research carried out at London’s Northwick Park Institute of Medical Research, is developing the world’s first commercially available replacement organs engineered from a patient’s own stem cells by removing the cells from donor organs, leaving a basic structure onto which an individual’s own cells can be seeded. The company’s first focus is on bespoke windpipes, with bowel and liver replacements to follow.
More information at: http://www.videregen.com/ QS World Universities Rankings 2014/15 Published in September 2014, the QS World University Rankings placed MIT first, Imperial College London in joint second, Harvard fourth, and University College London in joint fifth.
See the full rankings here: http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings