Welcome

From Dr Eliot Forster, MedCity’s Executive Chair 

You need around 50 professions to get a drug to market, and there is no better place to find that expertise than the UK – that was our main message for MedCity’s flying visit to BIO 2015 in Philadelphia in June. As ever, attending BIO was both an exhilarating and sobering reminder of the size, scale and competitiveness of the global life sciences industry. Talent is global but you’ll search a long time to find the concentration and critical mass of the greater south east – we must make sure we are taking every opportunity to broadcast that message.

We all know that a key ingredient for any commercial success is investment – life sciences businesses are no exception and in the UK we need more. So it was extremely exciting for me to co-host with the Mayor of London’s Office a round-table in June bringing together some of the best brains in the world to come up with real, lasting answers to this funding challenge. More details on that project are below, and discussions are continuing, in particular with the European Investment Bank – I will share updates with you as soon as I can.

Healthcare investment trends 2015

Following January’s inaugural Future of Healthcare Investor Forum hosted by the London Stock Exchange and MedCity, an event in June recapped key messages and debated the current and future situation of life sciences investment. 
Read key messages from the event

Cracking the innovation nut

The NHS Confederation and the AHSN Network publishes a briefing paper on the challenges and experiences of the fifteen regional Academic Health Science Networks as they have grappled with diffusing innovation across the NHS. 

Read the paper

Sir Robert Lechler to be new Academy of Medical Sciences President

Executive Director of King’s Health Partners and MedCity Advisory Board member Sir Robert Lechler has been announced as the next President of the Academy of Medical Sciences. Sir Robert will take up the post in December, following Sir John Tooke, Academic Director of UCLPartners and also a member of MedCity’s Advisory Board.
Read more

Immunocore wins Emerging Star at European Mediscience Awards

Oxford’s Immunocore, now led by MedCity’s Eliot Forster, was named Emerging Star of the Year at the European Mediscience AwardsMedCity for its work targeting T cell receptors. 

Read more

OBN Awards – nominations open

The OBN Annual Awards are now open for entries with a deadline of 31 July. The awards will be announced at an event on 1 October at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.  

Enter the awards

EU Health Programme call for proposals

The European Commission has published this year’s calls for proposals for the EU Health Programme, with a total budget of nine million euros. The deadline for proposals is 15 September. 

Find out more

Industrial Biotechnology Catalyst now open

Round 4 of the IB Catalyst, funded by BBSRC, Innovate UK and EPSRC is now open, with closing dates on 12 August and 2 December. 

Find out more

Coming up

NICE Scientific Advice Open Day, 14 July, NICE

Invest Tokyo Seminar 2015 in London, 15 July, UKTI
Data Protection in the Life Sciences Sector, 15 July, One Nucleus 
Breakfast with the BIA – are you investor-ready?, 16 July, UK BioIndustry Association
Medical Device Regulations Training, 21 October, South East Health Technologies Alliance

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