‘Funding gap’ threatens early stage R&D work

Marks & Clerk, a patent firm, surveyed some 500 biotech executives in the U.S. and U,K, and detected a distinct note of alarm over investors' dwindling appetite for the kind of risk presented by drug development. Slightly more than four out of five of the executives say the financial environment poses a "serious threat." And almost three out of four say that it will become harder to deliver new drugs unless the approval process is relaxed.

"Biotechnology represents the future of modern medicine, where yesterday's innovators now struggle with dwindling pipelines, generic competition and a checkered R&D record," says Dr Gareth Williams, a partner at Marks & Clerk. "Whilst the long-term view has not changed, we are seeing a short to mid-term funding gap in the current climate, which poses a genuine risk to essential, early-stage research and development."

- check out the report from Marks & Clerk

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