NEW BIOTECH FUND ESTABLISHED IN FRANCE

A new EUR50mn (US$60.74mn) private sector fund for biotechnology drug development has been set up in France. The scheme, to be known as SEFTI, will be jointly funded by local financial group Société Générale and US-based Amgen. It is hoped that the fund will lead to the creation of roughly 12 small-scale biotech firms.

The news will be a welcome boost for French R&D, especially as the government is currently liasing with private sector groups to arrest a decline in the sector. Pharmaceutical industry group LEEM believes France is underperforming in biotech, estimating that more than 60% of new biotech drugs on the French market were originally developed by US companies.

Approximately 90 products of biotech origin were available in France in 2004, mainly for conditions including diabetes and bone diseases. Four new products launching this year will be French in origin, but LEEM claims the country still lags behind Denmark and Switzerland in biotech drug development.