Opportunities
Globally, the life sciences sector (including pharmaceuticals and biotechnology) is expected to be worth £801 billion, representing an increase of more than 45 percent since 2007.
Investment potential and opportunities
A number of significant global trends are identified as shaping the future of the life sciences and biotech in Scotland, including:
- The emergence of personalised medicine
- The growing trend by big pharmaceuticals towards corporate investment, partnerships and outsourcing
- An increasing move towards translational medicine and the use of biomarkers and associated diagnostics to improve the efficiency of the drug discovery process
- Increasing convergence, with further integration between drugs and technology
- Increasing use of information technology to accelerate discovery and drive down costs
- Increasing emphasis on search for alternative therapies for existing approved drugs
Scotland’s world class scientific and research expertise in many of these areas, and the capabilities of its company base, makes it ideally placed to capture a larger share of the global market and become an internationally significant location for life sciences and biotech.
Several major life sciences and biotech companies are already reaping the rewards from their investment here. Their commitment is testament to our unrivalled support to Scotland’s life sciences in terms of our world-class:
- Knowledge
- People
- Innovation
- Infrastructure
- Collaboration
Established investors in Scotland’s life sciences and biotechnology, include:
- Quintiles, PPD, Charles River Laboratories, Kendle and Aptuit − in the top 10 major global Contract Research Organisations (CROs) are all at the forefront of improving drug development processes through scientific excellence
- Pfizer – at the cutting-edge of research and development of human and animal medicines
- Life Technologies – a global provider of premier biotechnology systems, consumables and services