Aberdeen's position at the cutting edge of research and development in the field of biologics was confirmed yesterday (September 1) when it hosted an influential conference, "Biologics - the next generation therapeutics?"
Over 100 delegates from the UK's leading drug research and
development companies and representatives from major European pharmaceutical companies attended the event, the first of its kind, which was organised by the BioIndustry Association (BIA), the trade association for UK biotech, at Aberdeen University's Institute of Medical Sciences.
Professor Dominic Houlihan, Vice-Principal forResearch and Commercialisation at the University of Aberdeen said:"This has been an excellent opportunity for the big drug companies to hear what is going on in Aberdeen, which is at the forefront of this kind of drug discovery."
"The calibre of delegates to the event has been exceptional," said Colin Donald, director of finance and competitive business forScottish Enterprise Grampian.
"The field of biologics will have real impact on the way diseases are treated in the future, and the fact that Scotland is leading the way, with a number of Aberdeen
companies already proving to be commercially successful, can only be great news economically for the region."
Biologics is the natural treatment of disease by using natural molecules in the human body. Drugs based on large complex molecules produced in a living system, in contrast to chemically synthesised pharmaceutical drugs, are a major advance in modern medicine.
This event highlighted the increasing impact these drugs are having on mainstream pharmaceutical drug development and examined how best to develop Scotland's already significant expertise in this area.
Aberdeen City's Lord Provost John Reynolds, who attended an evening reception for the conference hosted by Scottish Enterprise Grampian said: "We are absolutely delighted that the BIA has chosen Aberdeen as the venue for its first conference and feel the city is a very appropriate host.
"Aberdeen is right at the forefront of biologics - one of the 21st century's most exciting and important research growth areas.
"The fact that the first Biologics event is here acknowledges Aberdeen's keyposition: Already we can boast the highest concentration of life scientists in Europe and the city is home to some of the UK's leading sector companies, among them Haptogen, Auvation and Novabiotics.
"One of the reasons Aberdeen has been able to contribute so much in this sector is through the City Council's unyielding commitment to attracting and retaining a skilled and talented workforce and retaining our most able students.
"This is now in large measure being achieved through our high-profile Energising Aberdeen programme, supported through our City Growth Fund by Scottish Executive funding
aimed at making Scotland's cities all-round centres of excellence.
"Events such as these also complement and contribute to our
diversification programme, which aims to ensure that a range of industry and expertise thrives in the city, ensuring continuing economic buoyancy in the future."
"This is another step in the process of demonstrating that Aberdeen is leading the way in medical research."
Malcolm Rhodes, Technical Director bioProcessUK, gave the opening address at the event. He said: "Bioprocessing technology is essential for the manufacture of a broad range of biopharmaceuticalproducts, such as those being presented here today.
"bioProcessUK was set up earlier this year through the BIA in order to establish a strong bioprocessing sector in the UK, which is crucial to support this fast growth area.
"Through meetings such as today's biologics conference, capabilities and expertise can be shared which will
ultimately contribute to the future success of modern medicines."
Dr Barbara Blaney, Director, BIA Scotland, commented: "The BIA is committed to the long term support of UK biopharmaceutical drug development.
"Biopharmaceuticals are the fastest growing sector of the global pharmaceutical industry, accounting for over 30% of drugs currently in development. Scotland already has a wealth of expertise in this area, hence the choice of Aberdeen as a location for this inaugural event."
One of the themes running though the event was the growing
importance of commercialisation.
Dr Nigel McLean told the BIA audience how Scottish Health Innovations Limited (SHIL) is bringing NHS Scotland ideas to life.
As one of SHIL's seven business development staff, Dr McLean explained how the not-for-profit company plans to become self-funding, and return 80 per cent of any revenues earned to the Scottish National Health Service.
"SHIL's mission is to support and encourage innovative ideas for the lasting benefit of both patients and staff throughout NHS Scotland, through managing their development from idea to marketplace," he said.
Dr Alan Rowe, chief executive officer for the Rowett Research Services Ltd spoke of the region's excellent track record from commercialisation, using Rowett spin-out NovaBiotics as an example.
"We have created three spin-out companies in five years from Rowett research, and one of these is listed on the AIM of the London Stock Exchange," said Dr Rowe.
"We are currently working on our fourth - AOXTherapeutics, with others at various stages of planning. What we see at the Rowett is opportunities for commercialisation arising from some of the basic, mechanistic research undertaken - what I call learning from nature's models," said Dr Rowe.
"I'm very pleased to be able to present some of this work at this conference and hope I will be able to further raise the profile of the high quality research being carried out at the Rowett Institute and in Aberdeen, generally."
Other case studies included EiRx Therapeutics plc, which acquired University of Aberdeen spin-out Auvation earlier this year.
Dr Colin Telfer, recently appointed group chief operating officer, spoke about the development of EiRx's EnPADTM drug screening technology and the discovery of new cancer drug candidates recently announced by the company, which may have particular applications in the treatment of colorectal and breast cancer.