UK Bio-Pharma: Innovation, Re-Invention and Capital at Risk (Paperback)

The coalition government has targeted the pharmaceutical industry as a key driver of UK economic prosperity and has issued a consultation document 'patent box'. The key recommendation is to introduce a competitive tax rate of 10 percent on profits arising from patents. The objective is to encourage bio-pharma companies to develop and exploit their intellectual property in the UK. In the last decade a key aspect of recalibrating the bio-pharma business model has been to outsource drug development into SME bio-pharma firms to spread development costs and financial investment risk. This research report focuses on the development of the UK SME bio-pharma sector and the extent to which innovation, reinvention and capital are at risk. The analysis follows the financial fortunes of bio-pharma firms that have listed on the Alternative Investment Market since 1998 and the study also reports the findings of interviews with senior managers of UK bio-pharma SME's in the aftermath of the financial crisis.