Lord Sainsbury of Turville

Bio2003 Global Biotechnology Forum

I would like to start by giving a brief update on the UK biotechnology sector. The sector has continued to grow in the UK, and a recent survey we commissioned shows that we now have around 480 companies, whose primary activities is biotechnology. This represents an increase of 85 companies since the equivalent survey a year ago. Like many other countries, the UK sector has suffered from the slowdown in the availability of funding. However I was pleased that the UK accounted for 41% of all European capital raised in 2002. UK companies also account for 42% of European market capitalisation.

I believe that the development of a thriving global biotechnology sector is a pre-requisite if biotechnology is going to be used successfully in the developing world. I would like to mention briefly a few specific technologies, which should benefit many countries. Of course, co-operation with other international groups will be needed to implement the benefits of these technologies.

New vaccines need to be developed to meet the requirements of the developing world. Many biotech firms are working on new vaccines for diseases such as yellow fever, dengue fever, typhoid and West Nile virus. Most significantly, extensive work is taking place into developing an effective malaria vaccine, a particularly difficult task because of the size and complexity of the parasite. An AIDS vaccine is equally important but also presents challenging technical problems. Oxxon Pharmaccines is one UK Company that is working on both HIV and malaria vaccines, and is carrying out research and clinical trials in Africa.

Research is also needed to develop new TB vaccines. AstraZeneca has recently showed its commitment to fighting TB in developing countries. Earlier this month, it opened a TB research centre in Bangalore, India, in which the company will be investing $40m over 5 years.

The use of vaccines in developing countries also poses particular challenges in terms of transport, storage and delivery. These challenges will require a commitment from national government and international agencies beyond what the biotech sector can alone provide.

Genomic sequencing can help us identify the precise structure of disease-causing microorganisms, and thus start us on the road to prevention and treatment. The recent success in sequencing the genome of the corona virus shows how effective global scientific collaboration can be, if the will is there.

Bioinformatics is becoming increasingly important as a tool to analyse the mass of data about disease causing organisms. Information about preventing and treating diseases can be widely distributed to developing countries, without the need to build expensive new laboratories.

I would now like to mention a few examples of how the developed world can use biomedical technology to help developing countries. At the BioVision event in Lyon this year, I was honoured, to be invited to attend a dinner held in honour of the Vaccine Fund. This fund was created in 1999 with a grant of $750m from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and forms the financial arm of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization. Its aim is to ensure that all the world’s children have equal access to lifesaving vaccines. According to the Fund, a child in a developing country is 10 times more likely to die of a vaccine-preventable disease than a child in the industrialized world. Numerous national governments, including the UK, have contributed to the Fund, along with the private sector. So far the Vaccine Fund has committed more than $900 million to immunisation programs in 64 of the poorest countries.

The UK is committed to tackling all diseases of poverty, including HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria. Our contribution to HIV/AIDS reduction has risen from about £60m in 1998 to over £250m this year. We have also committed over £1.5billion since 1997 towards the development of health systems in poorer countries. We therefore welcomed the creation of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria in 2002. The UK believes that the Fund adds value to existing interventions through its ability to improve donor coherence, to fill funding gaps and to establish more reliable access to medicines and commodities. However, we also attach great significance to the improvement of health systems and, wherever possible, to channelling resources from the Fund through national budgets to ensure consistency with national planning

The Fund is only one of a number of ways in which we are tackling these diseases. We have also contributed to other health initiatives such as “Roll Back Malaria”, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative and the Medical Research Council’s Microbicides Development Programme. The MRC also represents the UK in the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials partnership. This initiative brings together European research activities, industry and the developing countries in a long-term partnership to fight poverty-related diseases such as HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria. The programme will support accelerated testing and development of new interventions against poverty-related diseases.

These therefore are some of the initiatives that are being taken to assist the developing world. There are, of course, commercial and political imperatives that need to be addressed if biotechnology is to achieve its full potential. No doubt, some of these will be discussed before the end of this event. This is an extremely important subject and I look forward to participating in the discussions.