2014年11月24日讯 /生物谷BIOON/ --近年来，英国的生物医药产业发展一直不尽如人意。
尽管有着牛津大学、剑桥大学等世界顶尖的科研机构和阿斯利康等一批在国际上都颇具影响力的生物医药巨头，英国却未能出现像美国波士顿那样世界闻名的生物医药中心。今年早些时候，辉瑞公司收购阿斯利康的一场拉锯战更是将这一状况更加恶化。为了改变这一现状，英国首相卡梅伦在2011年就曾提出要依托英国现有的科研单位打造一个世界闻名的生物医药研发中心。
最近，英国政府更是吸引到了制药巨头默沙东公司进入英国市场。根据规划，默沙东计划在未来三年的时间内投资4200万英镑约合6600万美元的资金在英国伦敦地区建设一个新型肿瘤药物研发中心。这也成为英国振兴本国生物医药产业计划中重要一环。
不仅仅是在这一领域投入巨资，英国政府还将改进现有新药审批流程以缩短一些创新性药物从临床研究阶段进入市场的周期。而这也是生物医药产业界历来最为诟病的地方。目前英国政府正在制订创新型药物审核方法，以改变这一现状。这一举措也获得了英国生物医药产业界的一致欢迎。英国制药工业协会的CEO Stephen Whitehead认为这一措施表明英国政府将放松其新药审批控制政策，并极大改善英国本国生物医药产业的生存环境。而最近英国生物医药巨头阿斯利康公司在研发领域频频传来的捷报似乎也预示着英国生物医药产业的复兴。
详细英文报道：
The U.K. is striving to brand itself as a hotbed for biotech R&D, promising new funds for startups, pledging to speed up its approval process and courting some major players to deepen their roots in the country.
Following through on Prime Minister David Cameron's 2011 pledge to make the U.K. a global life sciences hub, local leaders have set out a welcome mat for industry, securing a major commitment from Merck ($MRK) in the process. The U.S. pharma giant has pledged to invest at least ?42 million ($66 million) in the country over the next three years as it blueprints a London dealmaking outpost. Merck also intends to expand its R&D operations in Hertfordshire, focusing ononcology and dementia research, the company said.
The unveiling of Merck's investment is part of a coordinated attention grab on the part of the British government, which is also touting an expansion of its Biomedical Catalyst program, through which Innovate UK and the Medical Research Council bankroll startups and academic-led R&D projects with commercial potential. The two organizations have earmarked another ?31 million ($49 million) for the program, piling onto the ?200 million ($314 million) they've already awarded to more than 250 companies.
And, beyond supporting the development of new treatments, the U.K. says it wants to help get them to patients faster. In response to long-levied criticisms of how long it takes for new drugs to reach British shores, the government is plotting an Innovative Medicines Review, which will examine how regulators can work with industry to more quickly get the most promising treatments into use within the country's National Health Service.
The news was well-received by U.K. industry groups, which have for years lobbied the government to help inculcate a life sciences hub like the one in Boston, where world-class research institutions abut promising biotech startups and Big Pharma recon squads.
Stephen Whitehead, CEO of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, praised the effort as a welcome response to "increasing evidence of the need for a holistic approach to U.K. life sciences," at the same time challenging the government to loosen up its strict cost-effectiveness rules for new drugs. Steve Bates, chief of the nation's BioIndustry Association, heralded the government's work as "crucial to the success of the U.K. life science ecosystem" and key to his organization's ambitions of creating a booming biotech home base.
That promise was particularly alluring to Merck, company Global Human Health President Adam Schechter said, and the drugmaker sees a bright future for itself in the U.K.'s interconnected research community.
"We are impressed with the United Kingdom's approach to its Life Sciences strategy which takes an 'end to end' view of medicines, from discovery through their use in the real world," Schechter said in a statement. "Our commitment extends beyond the realms of academic and clinical research, and strives to find innovative ways to use data and technology to transform healthcare and in turn, patients' lives."
The nation's biopharma R&D scene is on the mend after years of cutbacks and site closures from the likes of Pfizer ($PFE), AstraZeneca ($AZN) and Shire ($SHPG). Many of the U.K.'s largest drug developers have gradually abandoned far-flung corporate campuses in favor of more urban outposts within the triangle of London, Cambridge and Oxford, a trend leaders public and private hope will help foster a return to growth.