Industry leaders from around the world will be gathering at BIO's big annual meeting in Atlanta this morning. And they'll be meeting under a dark cloud that's been hovering over biotechnology ever since the credit crisis hit with a vengeance last year.
Fresh evidence of that grim mood was apparent in a new survey from Marks & Clerk, which found that 93 percent of the 365 executives it queried noted that the biotech industry's climate had deteriorated over the past year. (What were the other seven percent thinking?)
The Americans in the mix, though, proved to be more optimistic. Big increases in federal spending on R&D and loosened stem cell research rules were given a big thumb's up by 84 percent of the biotech execs. British biotech officials were in a funk, though, with 75 percent of the UK execs agreeing that there was a significant risk that the European biotech sector would be left behind the U.S.
"While the global outlook remains finely balanced for the industry, the US is undeniably signalling that it is once again a friendly environment for the industry," said Paul Chapman, a co-author of the report. "Europe and the UK cannot afford to watch from the sidelines and should move speedily in terms [of] policy to ensure they are not left behind."
- read the survey results in the Financial Times
ALSO: Every year, the start of BIO's annual meeting is a signal for a string of states to release new reports outlining the dramatic importance of the biotech industry. This year Texas joined the group with a report claiming that the life sciences industry injects $75 billion a year into the state's economy. Report