Staying On Top

Scotland has an impressive array of medical breakthroughs and innovations - from anaesthetic in the 1840s, insulin and penicillin in the 1920s, through to Reneuron's recent stem cell trial for stroke patients. For a nation of just five million people, Scotland is rich in opportunity and innovation and is taking full advantage of the commercial and scientific acumen on its doorstep. Scotland already boasts the highest concentration of universities in Europe and has internationally recognised expertise. With every Scottish university engaged in medical technology research, more medical research per head of population is conducted in Scotland than anywhere else in Europe.

One of the greatest strengths of Scotland's life sciences community is joined-up-thinking. We actively bring together the industry, government, academia and related industries to maximise our potential from concept through to planning and implementation.

From an academic perspective, with over 17,000 research staff, Scottish universities are extremely commercially focused and work in close partnership with the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries around the world and have strong research links with Europe, Japan, Korea and the U.S.. One example of successful international collaboration is the £18 million invested by the Korea Health Industry Development Institute in Scottish projects through its international collaborative research programme for drug development.

With a reputation as a world leader in scientific and medical innovation, the life science sector in Scotland encompasses therapeutics, medical devices, diagnostics, contract research services, contract manufacturing and elements of healthcare services. It is an industry which contributes over £3 billion to the Scottish economy annually, with a projected GVA (Gross Value Added) growth of 8%. The host more than 620 organisations, employing over 31,000 people and accounts for 15% of all life science companies in the UK. The market can be categorised into four groups: core biotech companies, med-tech companies, support and supply, and academic and research.

80% of Scotland's Life Science industry is based within 50 miles of the cities of Edinburgh, Dundee and Glasgow. This makes it an extremely attractive proposition for companies seeking a new base, with access to a highly skilled workforce. The commercial environment in Scotland is thriving and highly supportive of new business ideas. Nowhere is this more evident than in the biopharmaceutical industry in Scotland.

Investing In The Future

The jewel in the crown is Edinburgh's Bio-quarter, a £600 million public and private sector collaboration which is unique in the UK. It is the only location to offer a large state-of-the-art teaching hospital, the University of Edinburgh's renowned medical school, one of the world's top 20 life sciences universities and bespoke commercial biomedical R&D facilities all on the one purpose built site. The 100-acre site brings together public healthcare, academic research and extensive commercial laboratory space to accele-rate translational medicine and facilitate large-scale life science collaborations. In turn, this will lead to the creation of an estimated 6,500 jobs and an investment of around £350 million over the next 10 years. Aiming to be one of Europe's top centres for biomedical R&D, the campus is set to attract internationally renowned companies and expertise from Scotland and overseas.

In 1997, Scotland attracted world-wide acclaim when it unveiled Dolly the sheep, the world's first cloned mammal. In 2007, the new £59 million Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine was announced. This world-leading Centre, a core component of the Edinburgh Bioquarter, has capacity to develop and manufacture cells and house commercial and regenerative medicine research organisations and spin-offs. Led by eminent scientist Professor Sir Ian Wilmut, the Centre aims to gain fundamental understanding of stem cells, to use this knowledge to improve human health, and to provide leadership in training the next generation of basic and clinical scientists in stem cell biology and regenerative medicine.

Successful Collaboration

Last year we opened the Scottish Institute for Cell Signalling at the University of Dundee. The university has already played a key role in developing other areas of cell signalling such as protein phosphorylation, which has led to major spin-offs through the critical mass of leading researchers and technology. Their lead in this field was instrumental in the creation of the biotechnology company Upstate in 1999, which now employs around 100 people in Dundee. This led to the establishment of the Division of Signal Transduction Therapy (DSTT), a collaboration founded 10 years ago between Astrazeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Glaxosmithkline, Merck KGaA and Pfizer, involving 13 research teams based at the University of Dundee. Working with the pharmaceutical companies, DSTT aims to accelerate the development of improved drugs to treat global diseases such as cancer, diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis. The £34 million project has funding to work until 2012 and is widely regarded as an excellent model for how academia and industry should work together.

Scotland also boasts effective links to clinical research which is serviced through a stable population, each with a unique personal identifier and a willingness to undertake clinical trials. This strong local health infrastructure builds a thriving contract research industry, with an established network of over 40 pharmaceutical clinical trials support bodies and contract research organisations. These factors provide a ready mechanism for translating stem cell research into clinical benefits.

The Scottish Government recently launched the Scottish Life Sciences Strategy 2008: "2020 Vision: Achieving Critical Mass", developed by the Life Sciences Alliance in partnership with Scottish Enterprise. The Strategy aims to build on the successes achieved by the sector since the original strategy in 2005. There are five key components:

• People - attract, retain and develop talented people and ensure companies have access to people with the right skills mix to help them grow
• Technology - develop the business environment to enable technology transfer between academia and business
• Capital - ensure companies have access to funding at different stages of the growth cycle
  Infrastructure - create the right facilities and accommodation to meet the needs of the growing sector
• Collaboration - working together as Life Sciences Scotland will enable the sector to compete more effectively around the world

Like many global economies, Scotland's life sciences sector has not been immune from the global financial crisis. However we are still seeing encouraging levels of investment in our company base, demonstrating that outstanding science and an excellent collaborative business model can continue to attract investment even within a tightening credit market.

The Scottish Government recognises that the global slowdown presents severe challenges to the Scottish economy. In an industry where the lead times can be as long as 12 years, it is imperative that everyone involved in the process is realistic about the timescales involved.

Not only do you need to have the world's best talent on your doorstep from day one, but you also need to ensure succession planning so that 15 years down the line your research activity does not slip because new breath is not coming into the industry. Only by remaining competitive, skilled and innovative will Scotland ensure that it retains its pole position leading medical research in life sciences.

Snapshot- Scotland´s Life Science Sector in Figures

£3 billion - Value of the industry per annum to the Scottish economy
£600 million - Investment to create the Edinburgh Bioquarter facility
£300 million - Funding attracted each year by Scotland's life science universities and research institutes
57,000 - Students studying life sciences related subjects in Scotland
31,000 - Staff employed in the field of life sciences in Scotland
17,000 - University research staff
620 - Companies
100 % - The number of Universities in Scotland involved in medical technology research
57 - University and research facilities
£18 million - Private funds leveraged from every £7 million invested by the Scottish Government
15 % - Of the UK's life sciences companies based in Scotland
7 - Number of commercial licensing deals announced by ITI Life Sciences to Feb 2009