Scotland sets out new life sciences strategy as totems bite the dust

The industry-led strategy was launched in front of an audience of 750 members of the sector by the minister for Finance and Sustainable Growth, John Swinney, who highlighted that life sciences currently adds more than £2.8 billion to the economy and is growing at 8 per cent a year, or four times as fast as the Scottish economy as a whole.

“2020 Vision: Achieving Critical Mass” aims to build on the successes achieved by the sector since the original strategy was launched in 2005 by focusing on five elements: attract, retain and develop talented people, develop the business environment to enable technology transfer between academia and business; ensure companies have access to funding at different stages of the growth cycle; create the right facilities and accommodation to meet the needs of the growing sector; and collaboration to enable the sector to compete more effectively around the world.

Ironically, the situation at Ardana and Stem Cell Sciences highlighted significant deficits in infrastructure and capital. In a restructuring, Stem Cell Sciences, one of the oldest companies in the field of stem cell research, announced it was closing its Edinburgh headquarters and moving them to Cambridge.

Alistair Riddell, CEO, cited various reasons for the move, several of which are less than flattering for Scotland’s ambitions. On skills, the company’s scientific founder Austin Smith brain-drained from Edinburgh to Cambridge University some months earlier. Another provocation for Riddell was the proposal to increase the rent at the company’s “cramped, tired and old” premises in Edinburgh by almost 50 per cent.

A few days later Ardana announced it is putting itself on the block after failing to attract further investment from its major shareholders. The company was spun out of the UK Medical Research Council’s Reproductive Health unit in Edinburgh in 2000 to commercialise its research and in addition has in-licensed a portfolio of clinical-stage programmes and has three marketed products. But with £6.6 million in the bank – sufficient for around six months of operation – the shareholders have decided to look for a sale or merger, rather than continuing to support the development of products.

Commenting on the renewed strategy John Brown, chair of the Life Sciences Industry Advisory Group, said, “As an industry, we have achieved almost all of the short-term milestones included in the original strategy and we felt we needed to take another look at what is required if we are to continue to achieve this level of success in tomorrow’s global environment.”

“The refreshed strategy now sets out the roadmap for everyone involved in life sciences in Scotland to work together for the continued growth and development of the sector.”

Jack Perry, chief executive of Scottish Enterprise, said, “One of the biggest strengths that exists in this country is the collaboration happening between industry, academia, the national health service and the wider public sector. It is this collective responsibility which has been a critical success factor in recent years and as a result, we are beginning to see some great new emerging businesses spinning out from our universities and research institutes while we are continuing to attract global companies to invest here.”