Make investment in life sciences a government priority, says FranceBiotech
This article was originally published in Scrip
France Biotech, the French life sciences association, says government funding made available to counter the financial crisis, should be used to expand the national research agency and increase investment in innovation in areas including stem cell research and therapeutic vaccine development.
Earlier this year the French government announced a national loan for financing strategic investments that would help the country respond to the financial crisis. The government said it would decide the total value of the loan and to which sectors the money would be made available in November after it had considered various proposals.
In its proposal to the government, France Biotech argues that the French life sciences industry is maturing with many fast-growing companies and promising projects that offer opportunities for long term economic growth. But it warns that declining investment levels are a concern and could jeopardise the sector
The proposal argues that part of the loan should go towards expanding and reinforcing the ANR, France's national research agency. This should become a major funding body that would finance France's best public research groups.
The ANR should be transparent and operate independently. It should also give funding to laboratories instead of individual research projects. This would help ensure that researchers maintain their "freedom of action" and are not steered by periodic calls for research funding proposals.
The association proposes that the loan should be used to restore OSEO Innovation – a public body that helps small and medium-sized enterprises finance growth and innovation – to its former glory. This could be done by increasing its current €320 million budget to 2007 levels, worth €600 million, and then eventually tripling this figure to €2 billion, says France Biotech. "Venture capital funds invest all the more readily in an SME when it has attracted OSEO funding," it adds.
France Biotech also named four life sciences priority areas which should receive considerable investment. Stem cell research should receive €500 million each year over five years. And with the demand for novel vaccines set to double by 2012, therapeutic vaccine research should receive €800 million in funding per year over five years, it says.
Other priorities are biofuels, which should receive an annual €700 million over five years, and complex implantable medical devices, which should receive €600 million annually over the same period.