The UK may be Europe’s pre-eminent biotech sector but its potential has been held back by a huge shortfall in cash compared with the US. That could be about to change, with the launch this week of a long-awaited scheme to entice pension funds to invest in early-stage biopharma companies.
Hopes For A ‘New Era’ In UK Biotech Financing With Pension-Backed Fund
Backed by the UK government and the Phoenix Group, the initial £200m fund is aimed at convincing pension funds to invest in the higher-risk, higher-reward life sciences sector.

More from Business
Public Company Edition: Stock valuations are falling due to political, economic and regulatory uncertainty, resulting in fewer large public offerings, more alternative financings and cost cuts. Carisma, Tenaya, BioAtla, Arbutus, Nkarta, Alector and Adaptimmune announced layoffs.
The US FDA approved anti-CD19 antibody Uplizna, from Amgen’s $27.8bn purchase of Horizon in 2023, for IgG4-related disease – a larger market than its original NMOSD indication.
BeiGene’s Phase III ociperlimab joins the list of failed TIGIT inhibitors, as candidates from Roche, Merck & Co. and others have failed late-stage studies.
It might be the beginning of the end for the orphan drugs party but there is still sales growth enjoyment to be had for the sector, whose star performers are now looking increasingly like mainstream drugs.
More from Scrip
The approval of another Novartis drug with a different mechanism means the company is further cornering multiple parts of IgAN pathogenesis.
It might be the beginning of the end for the orphan drugs party but there is still sales growth enjoyment to be had for the sector, whose star performers are now looking increasingly like mainstream drugs.
The German firm’s chairman, Hubertus von Baumbach, is adopting a ‘wait-and-see’ approach to the threat of pharma tariffs.