Pictured: Adrian Toutoungi (left), Partner at Taylor Wessing; and Professor Sir Mark Caulfield, Vice Principal Health at Queen Mary’s Faculty of Medicine.
Discussions on the state of the UK’s life sciences market proved a major draw at the UKSPA’s 40th anniversary conference at Warwick University.
A conversation between Professor Sir Mark Caulfield, vice principal for health at Queen Mary’s Faculty of Medicine, with Taylor Wessing partner Adrian Toutoungi sought to highlight current trends.
Taylor Wessing is one of Europe’s leading law firms in the fields of tech and life sciences, working in the ‘venture ecosystem’ with venture funds and companies looking to raise money from them.
Life sciences, said Mr Toutoungi, ranged across biotech, pharma, devices, diagnostics, instruments, tools and reagents as well as digital health.
The sector was strong in the UK, he said, attracting private capital year after year. And there had been what he called a gentle rise in the amounts of venture capital.
The UK, he said, punched above its weight in this sector and the government had identified as offering a competitive advantage in the global market.
Life sciences investment had fluctuated dramatically as interest rates rose and fell, impacting returns on investments, but the current downward trend had seen the sector regain its vitality, “and it looks like the next 12 to 18 months are going to be positive.”
Turning to areas seen as ‘hot’ at the moment, Mr Toutoungi said oncology remained very important but there was increasing interest in treatments for obesity, inflammation and the immune system.
This included autoimmune conditions such as Chrone’s, irritable bowel syndrome, psoriasis and atopic derematitis or eczma. Another area of growing interest was CNS, or the central nervous system.
See inflammation and the immune system, immunology, inflammation. Some, sometimes called INRI, essentially autoimmune conditions, so things like prones irritable bowel syndrome, psoriasis, that type of stuff, atopic dermatitis.
These were areas where new products were being launched and doing well, sales expectations were high and Big Pharma was making acquisitions as it sought to replace drugs and medicines where patents were expiring.
Obesity was particularly prominent, which predictions that Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic could hit sales of $50 billion a year, twice the sales of the previous highest selling drug,
CNS is another growing area. After a decade that saw no new drugs to treat Alzheimer’s – seen as a ‘graveyard’ for phase three trials – three new drugs have come along.
As a result there were big acquisitions by pharma companies for new schizophrenia and Parkinson’s drugs. And companies were also looking for premises to enable the specialised manufacturing of medical treatments.
The development of radiopharmaceuticals had suffered issues because of the complicated supply chain, said Mr Toutoungi, because of their use of radio isotopes and a shortage of manufacturers.
Professor Caulfield underlined the difference that research into new treatments could have on sufferers of disease. He highlighted the case of rheumatoid arthritis, an inflammatory disease that used to be disabling to the extend of limiting and shortening a sufferer’s life.
“We are beginning to change the game for patients with these diseases and it is about more precision healthcare. It’s about getting the right treatment to the right person at the right moment.”
Early treatment with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) and biologics can produce remission rates in excess of 60%.
Author: Simon Penfold
Photography Credit: Ed Nix
