France Biotech asks for its share of government stimulus money

“The National Loan is an opportunity that we must seize if biotech is to become a major economic driver for the next 50 years. We advise against the creation of a new, resource-consuming organisation for distributing the money raised by the National Loan,” said France Biotech Chairman André Choulika.  

Rather, said Choulika, existing institutions should be improved and reinforced. “Our objective is to see funding focused on the major high-potential scientific and business sectors in which France has the skills to be a global leader. France needs to seize its place in the leading pack of life science specialists,” he said.

The French life science industry is now maturing, with plenty of promising projects and fast-growing companies, which can act as drivers for long-term economic growth. For example, the drug development pipeline is expanding rapidly. However, this situation contrasts with a cyclic, but nonetheless worrying, 79 per cent drop in investment.

France Biotech’s proposals for funding strategic priorities are:

1. Reinforce and expand France's National Research Agency (ANR) and promote excellence in academic research.

The ANR should, they say, become a major funding body that fosters the rapid reform of academic research by financing the best research groups in France’s universities and public research institutes.

As with the National Institutes of Health, whose budget has just been increased by 34 per cent by President Barack Obama, the National Science Foundation in the United States or the Wellcome Trust in the UK, they want the ANR to provide a framework that encourages good practice in terms of independence, reviewing and funding of the best projects according to international standards of excellence.

It is important, they add, to guarantee the ANR’s operational independence and transparency and provide it with a huge budget increase. This would mean that ANR funding would be awarded to labs rather than to research projects. Fundamental research cannot, they say, be driven by periodic calls for proposals but must retain its freedom of action. Expert reviewers should judge the quality and the competitiveness of applicant labs, says France Biotech.

2. Restoring OSEO Innovation’s budget and then tripling it to reach €2 billion

The budget of the former Agency for Industrial Innovation was transferred to OSEO Innovation in 2007, enabling the French state innovation agency to channel €600 million to SMEs, as grants-in-aid and repayable advances, in 2008 and to finance innovative programmes. However, OSEO Innovation’s 2009 budget has fallen back to 2007 levels of €320 million. It is essential to reverse this and restore the budget to at least €2 billion, says France Biotech, noting that venture capital funds invest all the more readily in an SME when it has attracted OSEO funding and enjoys a substantial research tax credit.

3. Concentrate significant resources on 4 high-priority sectors:

Stem cells

Stem cell research has been gathering speed over recent years, and carries the hope of beating incurable diseases, including degenerative conditions like Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. France, claims France Biotech, is capable of seizing this opportunity to establish a strong, long-term position in a strategic field which will impact drug development and regenerative medicine for a long time to come. These sectors encompass considerable short-term industrial challenges and long-term public health benefits. This sector should, they say, receive €500 million in funding per year over 5 years.

Biofuels

One of the main opportunities for national investment is the use of biotechnology to produce green energy. France Biotech argues that the limitations of plant-based approaches have revealed the need for more sustainable, efficient and industrial-scale approaches based notably on micro-organisms including micro-algae, fungi and bacteria. Micro-organisms are responsible for degrading biomass and could generate energy and sequester carbon.

In this fast-growing sector, France could achieve a particularly competitive position and could expect to win a significant share of the global biofuels market, they suggest, adding that this sector should receive €700 million in funding per year over 5 years.

Complex implantable devices

Many chronic conditions lead to the development of heart failure or coronary disease. Today, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of mortality worldwide. In many cases, transplantation is the only solution. However, the lack of donors (with the shortfall estimated at between 10,000 and 20,000 per year) prevents a proportion of eligible patients from receiving this treatment. Bioprostheses could replace the failing organ and enable full recovery.

This sector is situated at the interface between life science, microelectronics and aerospace technology. France already has major assets in this sector; several research programmes have generated potentially implantable prototypes whose components have already been tested in the lab over the equivalent of several years of use. One of these programmes should result in the world’s most advanced artificial heart.

France Biotech argues that the field of autonomous, physiologically-regulated, complex bioprostheses is just opening up but could become a major asset for French industry, and that this sector should receive €600 million in funding per year over 5 years.

Therapeutic vaccines

France has long been a leader in the vaccine field. Vaccination not only prevents death and suffering but is also cost-effective - making it one of the best investments in public health terms.

A cost-benefit analysis performed in the US showed that each dollar invested in a dose of vaccine reduces healthcare expenditure by $2-$27. The goal is not only to provide vaccines to populations worldwide but to develop novel preventive approaches, production techniques and therapeutics. The success of these novel approaches relies on an ability to innovate and use cutting-edge technologies while leveraging existing assets and experience. Demand for novel vaccines should double by 2012, creating a huge market in which France could play a leading role, says France Biotech, which suggests that this sector should receive €800 million in funding per year over 5 years.