On Monday 5 February 2018, leading investors will come together in London to discuss US-European transatlantic value creation and investment during a keynote panel session at Biotech and Money/Medtech and Money World Congress.The keynote panel will feature: Joe Anderson, Chief Executive Officer at Arix Bioscience; Kate Bingham, Managing Partner at SV Health Investors; Martin Murphy, Chief Executive Officer at Syncona; Johnston Erwin, VP, Corporate Business Development at Eli Lilly & Co; Iain Dukes, Venture Partner at OrbiMed; David Berry, General Partner at Flagship Pioneering.

The panellists will examine the key investment issues facing the European healthcare sector, as well as investors’ role in facilitating access to US capital markets for European life science companies, and access to innovation, development and expansion opportunities in Europe for US companies.

In this pre-event Q&A, Arix Bioscience’s Anderson shares his insights into the biggest barriers to increasing transatlantic investment and the key advantages improved transatlantic investment would bring to life sciences companies on both sides of the Atlantic, providing a snapshot of the issues that will be addressed in further detail during the panel discussion on 5 February 2018.

Q&A with Joe Anderson, Chief Executive Officer at Arix Bioscience:  

What is the most significant development or disruption you have seen in US-Euro transatlantic life science investment in the last year?

Major developments in new technologies such as CAR-T remind us of the potential of life sciences to create meaningful benefit for patients and create substantial value for investors. In a low interest rate, low-growth environment, investors also recognise the appeal of life sciences. In addition, there is renewed interest in early-stage innovation, driven partly by the increased focus on drug pricing and societal demand for medicines that make a difference. Big pharma is acquiring life science companies earlier and we have seen some significant acquisition values, even for companies at pre-clinical stage.

What are the biggest barriers to transatlantic investment? How can these be overcome?

Although there appears to be increasing openness to transatlantic investment into healthcare and life science companies, one of the biggest barriers we’ve seen is the development of a critical mass of capital in Europe to support the development of early-stage, innovative biotech companies. Although there is a tremendous amount of great science in Europe, the funding environment is still relatively weak and the larger deals or companies tend to be based in – or migrate to – the US. With more of a critical mass of targeted capital in Europe, that dynamic can evolve.

To read the rest of the Q&A and find out more about the keynote panel, download the whitepaper: