AUSTRALIA

ASX and biotech industry move towards reporting code
The Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) and Australia's Biotechnology Organization (AusBiotech) announced that the biotech reporting code committee met to progress the development of the biotechnology industry reporting code. The committee, jointly formed by ASX and AusBiotech, will review the current draft of the code with a view to finalizing it as a Code of Best Practice.

The Code of Best Practice for reporting by biotechnology, medical device and other life sciences companies has been developed to enhance communication and understanding between companies and the investment community and to promote investor confidence in the sector. The Code was launched as a working draft in April this year and a number of companies have already adopted it as a standard in their reporting to the market.

ASX Deputy CEO Colin Scully said: "This initiative will assist the growth and acceptance of the biotechnology industry. Disclosure of information is fundamental to inspiring confidence in open markets. Ensuring we have a common reporting framework and shared understanding of information, it adds to investor confidence, and therefore contributes towards a lower cost of capital for the industry."

AusBiotech Executive Director Tony Coulepis said: "The draft reporting guidelines are an important step in raising the reporting standards in Australia towards world best practice and therefore in developing the Australian biotechnology industry.

Source: www.ausbiotech.org

ASIA PACIFIC

Singapore's Biopolis attracts industry leaders
Biopolis, a research complex in Singapore, which was launched a year ago, has achieved 90 percent occupancy, consisting of national research institutes and leading BMS industry players. In recent months, two leading companies GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Isis Pharmaceuticals Singapore set shop. In September, GSK announced to establish set up its first pre-clinical research facility for neurodegenerative diseases in the Asia Pacific region. GSK plans to invest S$62 million in this research facility. This brings GSK's total investment in Singapore to over S$1 billion, which has been used to build up strategic manufacturing facilities, expand its production facility and undergo numerous research collaborations.

Isis Pharmaceuticals Singapore opened a research lab in October last and focuses on discovering new micro-RNA drugs and antisense drugs to treat Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), cancer and blood diseases. This facility allows its parent company, Isis Pharmaceuticals INC, a company involved in the area of RNA-based drug discovery and development, to expand its efforts into Asia.

A*STAR funds $48m to boost research
The Biomedical Research Council (BMRC) of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) has awarded $48.2 million funding to 74 biomedical research projects in Singapore in its third grant call.

The successful applicants were selected from a pool of over 240 researchers from Singapore's public institutions excluding research institutes under A*STAR.

"We are very pleased with the strong response and the quality of submissions. The 95 percent jump in volume over the previous Grant Call reflects strong growth in biomedical research activity in Singapore. Our expert panel of reviewers has also noted a higher standard of submissions," said Associate Professor Kong Hwai Loong, Executive Director of the BMRC.

Of the 74 successful proposals in the third Grant Call, 45 are for basic science, and the remaining 29 are on translational research, which bridge laboratory science and clinical applications. Funding support ranges from 12 months to five years. The research grants range from $250,000 to more than $3 million. The projects cover a broad spectrum of research areas, including common diseases such as cancer and heart ailments.

Source: www.a-star.edu.sg

AMERICA

James Greenwood is BIO president

Former Pennsylvania congressman James Greenwood took over as president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) on January 5, 2005. BIO represents more than 1,000 member organizations across three major areas of research and development: healthcare, food and agriculture, and industrial and environmental biotechnology. Carl B Feldbaum, president of BIO from its inception in 1993, has retired.

James Greenwood

"The biotechnology industry is dedicated to solving humanity's toughest problems; it is creating cures for heartbreaking diseases, improved crops for better nutrition, and clean biofuels for a better environment," said Greenwood. "The future looks bright for the next generation of companies and products as well. Investment in private biotechnology companies - almost all of them small research-and-development firms funded by venture capitalists - hit a record $5 billion in 2004, while the industry as a whole raised more than $20 billion," said Greenwood.

Outlook bright
With a spate of new products hitting the market, Ernst & Young projects industry revenues will rise almost 20 percent, to $51.4 billion, in 2005. That growth is driving employment gains that are expected to outpace the general economy at least through 2012, according to calculations based on US Labor Department statistics.

"Growth is accelerating in dozens of regions in America, and it encompasses both startups and large-cap firms," said Greenwood. "That record of growth will help BIO in the coming months as we pursue a policy agenda designed to ensure the financial markets and regulatory system continue to support this innovative industry, which has come so far, so fast, but still has a long way to go."

FDA approves breakthrough therapies
The FDA in 2004 approved 32 new therapeutic products discovered, developed or marketed by biotechnology and related companies, according to a BIO analysis. The approvals include the first cancer drug designed to stop the growth of the blood vessels that feed tumors (Avastin), two cancer drugs targeting a cancer growth factor (Erbitux and Tarceva), and new medicines for multiple sclerosis, macular degeneration, and pain.

The year 2004 ended with the FDA's approval of a first-of-its-kind genotyping test that helps doctors and patients select medications and doses for treatment of cardiac disease, psychiatric disease and cancer.

At the earlier end of the pipeline, two critical fields of research - biodefense and embryonic stem cells - both got a boost in 2004. The new federal BioShield law provides $5.6 billion over 10 years to procure vaccines, therapies and other products critical to protecting against bioterrorism.

Biotech agriculture expands
Biotech crop adoption continued to soar in 2004, nine years after the introduction of the first biotech staple crops. In the US, biotech varieties accounted for 85 percent of soybeans, 76 percent of cotton, and 45 percent of corn. Six biotech crops (canola, corn, cotton, papaya, soybean and squash) were found to increase the incomes of the US grower by $1.9 billion and crop yields by 5.3 billion pounds, while reducing pesticide use by 46.4 million pounds, according to a new study from the National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy.

The impact of biotech crops is rapidly expanding in the rest of the world. A December study from food and trade policy analyst C Ford Runge found that biotech crops are now being grown in 18 countries, and research and development is being conducted in another 45 countries. The global commercial value of biotech crops grown in the 2003-04 crop year was $44 billion, according to the study.

EUROPE

France Biotech recommends accelerating efforts
France Biotech, the French biotechnology industry association presented the 2004 French Biotechnology Industry Report at a conference in Paris on December 15. This study was put in place by France Biotech and its partners, and under the scientific direction of Pr. Pierre Kopp, economist, University Paris I.

Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin

This third edition of 2004 describes the main developments in the biotechnology sector in 2003, as well as the trends, and the 2004 financing activities. In 2003, and for most 2004, the French biotechnology industry was marked by a dramatic fall of sources of financing from both venture capital and stock markets. Subsequently, company investments and jobs stagnated in the sector.

Nevertheless, the institutional and financial environment of the biotechnology sector was positively impacted at the end of 2004 by some key measures implemented by the French government, which has been favoring R&D driven companies with measures such as the Young Innovative Company status (JEI in French) and the commitment of insurers to invest an additional 6 billions euros in SMEs before 2007. These measures were conceived and submitted by France Biotech and the Strategic Council for Innovation to the French government. In addition, the research environment, key for the life sciences industry, will benefit from the creation of the National Science Agency (Agence Nationale de la Recherche in French), announced by Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin on June 29, 2004. France Biotech recommended the Agency to be well capitalized and focused on Life Sciences and Bionanosciences.

The panorama unveiled by France Biotech makes watch of a moderate optimism: it underlines the relative fragility of the national industry, the need for accelerating efforts that will drive to a successful takeoff with a focus on the measures having the strongest and fastest impact, such as the Young Innovative Company status. Despite positive shivers at the end of 2004, France remains globally behind compared to its competitors: both at the level of public investments in academic research in the field of life sciences, and at the level of investments made by venture capital in the young life sciences companies, the French efforts are three times inferior, in corrected GDP, to the US'. It is also noticed that the total amount of capital raised by the whole national industry, including during the good years, is much lower than the development cost of a single drug, estimated between $500 m and $800 m.

The conference provided the opportunity to review on 2004 France Biotech's actions, and will unveil France Biotech's latest proposal to the government, namely to create a Young Listed Company status (JEC). This status will address the need of SMEs to access to the stock market and will combat the lack of appetite of institutional and stock-market investors in growing young technological companies by offering tax benefits to those who invest in innovative SMEs.

The French government implemented measures to help SMEs. Nevertheless, the 2004 biotechnology study clearly shows that international recovery is yet to benefit the French and European life sciences industry. Philippe Pouletty, President of France Biotech said: "If the sources of financing for biotechnologies have been running dry the last two years, the new institutional environment in place starts bearing fruit".

Source: www.france-biotech.org

AFRICA

Kenya imports Bt cotton for trials
Kenya has imported Bt cottonseed from the US for field trials. Dr Charles Waturu, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute's (KARI) Thika Center director, said that Bt cotton, which has a gene that is resistant to stalk-borer, is expected to reduce pesticide spraying from five to two times. "Of all the input in cotton, 32 percent is channeled to pest control, and the Bt cotton will lead to a reduced number of pesticide spray until harvest time," he said.

The trials are about to start at KARI farms in central Kenya. The Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) has inspected the trial sites and has given the go-ahead for the project.

Currently, cotton is grown on approximately 2.5 million hectares in Africa, most of which comprises small plots of less than five hectares. The introduction of Bt cotton on the continent has the potential of dramatically increasing yields among the small holder farmers. The National Biotechnology Committee approved the application for Bt cotton only last year.

Source: www.africabio.com