Biotechnology is riding out the recession as investment in the sector hits new highs.
BIO 2010
Prior to the BIO 2010 convention which took place in Chicago in May, fDi editor Courtney Fingar chats with former BIO co-panelist Douglas Clark, director of RSM Tenon, about the shape of the life sciences sector in the post-crisis economy and the trends likely to dominate discussion at the event including - a continued raft of mergers and acquisitions by pharma companies, an increasing number of partnerships between developed and developing markets and a bigger focus on industry innovation in the developing markets.
Video: Editor’s view
The question is also raised as to whether the global recession might have caused a shake-out in the overcrowded investment promotion space, with some of the weaker locations abandoning overambitious plans to become biotech hubs in favour of adopting more realistic strategies for economic develoment. A walk around the exhibition floor at BIO will shed light on who is left standing.
fDi at BIO
Click here to download the presentation from fDi intelligence’s biotech breakfast briefing.
For more data and analysis on location trends in biotech, or for a more detailed report, please contact fdiintelligence@ft.com
Listen:
A shake-out in the competition to create biotech clusters has been long overdue. Floor traffic at BIO appeared less congested than some previous years, and a number of investment locations that once had pavilions in the exhibitional hall have either disappeared or downgraded to considerably more modest stands. (The state of New York and Ohio notable among the latter.) Yet, whether this suggests a shifting of priorities to other sectors or just temporary marketing budget reductions remains to be seen. And political leaders still turned out in force this year to fly the flag for their biotech clusters. fDi editor Courtney Fingar spoke to a few of them. Click here to hear how they answered the question: How is your location positioning itself for biotech competitiveness in 2010 and beyond.
From
Companies
Geron Corporation works towards better medicine
US biotech company Geron Corporation has every reason to believe its work in stem cell and cancer research will be as groundbreaking as the Roslin Institute’s creation of cloned sheep dolly back in 1997.
Following the smart money
Biotech companies can only thrive with the right mix of available funding, intellectual property protection and effective regulation. With so many locations claiming to offer them all, an fDi panel discusses how companies can best evaluate expansion options
Pharma doubles in Latin America
Latin American emerging economies have become a focus for Big Pharma investment, with a number of significant investment projects announced this year
BIO 2009 round up
The BIO 2009 event in the US city of Atlanta provided Courtney Fingar with a welcome dose of Southern hospitality, as well as an opportunity to grill the leaders of nine North American states, and one city, about their biotech prospects
From
Locations
/ Middle East & Africa
Pharma giants target Africa
GlaxoSmithKline poised to take 10% share in Aspen as Western drug companies target emerging economies.n
From
Events
An eye on expansion
The global of president Bausch & Lomb’s pharmaceutical division tells Lara Williams how the company’s global presence has helped it defy the economic slowdown, and that it now has Asia-Pacific, eastern Europe and Latin America in its sights.
From
Events
Shanghai for science
Heading up fDi’s rankings for medical device manufacturing are Shanghai, New York and Istanbul – with Shanghai also topping the quality rankings for life sciences R&D.
From
Events
Big pharma gets bigger
The trend for amalgamation within the pharmaceutical sector is creating ever bigger and stronger companies, writes Lara Williams.
Audio: Following the smart money – Location Science series
The science behind biotechnology knows no boundaries. But when it comes to expanding abroad, biotech companies find that not every location offers equal advantages. In this vein, participants in the inaugural event of fDi's Location Science round table series – held at the Financial Times' London headquarters and sponsored by Invest in Spain – discussed factors behind global site selection, the biotech climate in the EU and what countries such as Spain are doing to attract biotech.
Breakfast presentation
BIO Breakfast Briefing 2009 - Click on link to download the fDi Intelligence presentation delivered at last year's breakfast briefing.