OBN Facilitates Funding to UK R&D Companies from the Biomedical Catalyst Scheme

ABINGDON, England, November 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

OBN, the trade association for emerging life sciences companies, is gratified to note the recent £39 million tranche in funding awards to UK life science companies under the Biomedical Catalyst Scheme administered by the Technology Strategy Board (TSB). 

Since March 2012, OBN has held four events in Oxford, Cambridge and London where over 220 attendees from life science companies were able to meet, interact with and question the TSB staff responsible for the administration of the fund.

Senior managers from the 2012 Biomedical Catalyst Scheme winners Absynth, Glide Pharma, Arecor, Pharminox, Domainex, Summit, GeneFirst and Pharmidex all attended these OBN events.

At the second Oxford event in October this year, entitled "Learning from the Winners, How to Succeed with the Biomedical Catalyst Scheme", OBN was the first organisation to call on the UK Government to extend and expand on the industry component of the Biomedical Catalyst to £2bn over 10 years, which will help maintain the UK bioindustry's number one position in Europe.

Having presented at three of the OBN events, Dr Helen Kuhlman, Lead Technologist, Medicines and Healthcare, TSB commented, "OBN events have provided a great opportunity to reach out to exciting businesses and talk with the people responsible for developing innovative healthcare propositions about their challenges and aspirations." 

Dr Jon Rees, CEO, OBN, commented, "OBN is delighted to work with the TSB in order to ensure that its members have the best chance of funding success.  Having identified an effective scheme to stimulate innovative R&D, we hope the UK Government will build on this commitment toward ensuring the scheme is of a scale and duration sufficient to maintain the UK bioindustry's number one position in Europe."

OBN's early and comprehensive efforts on the BMC are part of our facilitation of funding for the early-stage UK life science sector that in the last year has also included presentations by partners from the Syncona Fund, Index Ventures and NeoMed to our members. In addition, OBN will host the second City Investment Network event at Baker Botts in the City of London later today, and the BMC will chair a showcase scientific session of the winners from the BMC Scheme at next year's BioTrinity conference which will be held in Newbury from the 14th to the 16th of May, 2013.

About OBN

OBN is the trade association supporting the UK's emerging life sciences companies OBN's activities can be summarised as networking, partnering, group purchasing, and providing fundraising advice. Through its delivery of Europe's fastest growing biopartnering and investment conference 'BioTrinity' OBN generates more R&D-company-to-investor interactions than anyone else in Europe. OBN runs regular 'BioTuesday' evening networking events which typically feature three speakers talking on a topic of business, financial or scientific interest, followed by two hours of networking over wine and canapés. They are attended by 70-120 delegates. In addition OBN offers an Executive Breakfast Club with up to 25 CEO's, CFO's and COO's coming together with major industry figures to discuss a topic of mutual interest in an informal way. Details of OBN's other events can be found at http://www.obn.org.uk/evens OBN can also offer our members discounted rates on lab supplies and services through more than 30 suppliers, office supplies, private medical insurance, among over 40 offers on products and services through the group OBN Purchasing Scheme.

About the BioMedical Catalyst

The BioMedical Catalyst was implemented to help UK R&D companies to access much needed funding to aid the development of innovative products and technology, in attracting private finance and ultimately to treating areas of unmet medical need. The BioMedical Catalyst, launched as a key action within the government's Strategy for UK Life Sciences and aimed at addressing market failure in the financing of early-stage innovative biomedical R&D companies in the UK, is designed to effectively translate basic research into products with market potential. This joint £180m Technology Strategy Board and Medical Research Council programme offers funding to innovative small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and academics looking to work either individually or in collaboration to develop solutions to healthcare challenges. The Biomedical Catalyst accepts innovative ideas from any sector or discipline that demonstrate the potential to provide significant positive healthcare and economic impact.

For further information, please contact:

Andy Smith
Director of Investor and Public Relations
Email: andy.smith@obn.org.uk
Telephone: +44(0)845-5049-715