BioWorld International Correspondent

LONDON - The UK BioIndustry Association has called on the government to criminalize the activities of animal rights activists by bringing in legislation similar to that against football hooliganism.

In his speech at the BIA's annual dinner here in London on Thursday, new Chairman David Chiswell said the government has done a good job for the sector in taking a strong public stance against animals rights extremism, but more needs to be done. "There should be a single piece of legislation, similar to that against football hooligans."

Earlier in the day, 36 biotech CEOs met with government ministers and members of parliament to press the call for new legislation. The BIA believes that if animal rights supporters are demonstrating with the intention of damaging legal business, or to intimidate individuals, it should be possible to prosecute them.

The government previously amended existing legislation to allow directors who face the threat of animal rights demonstrations outside their homes to keep their addresses private, but Chiswell also called for the home addresses of all biotechnology company directors to be kept secret, "not just those notionally at risk."

In his keynote address to BIA members at the dinner, Lord Hunt, health minister, agreed that there is a need to deal effectively with animal rights extremism. "It is very, very important that we win this battle," he said.

Hunt also praised Brian Cass, CEO of Huntingdon Life Science plc, the animal testing company that was forced to delist from the London Stock Exchange as a result of the actions of animal rights activists. "I very much look up to and respect [Cass] for the way he has dealt with quite appalling harassment and intimidation."

Hunt said there is "an open door to government" for David Chiswell and the BIA. "We very much want to have an open dialogue. The potential of this industry is enormous."

State Of The UK Biotech Sector

Chiswell also gave what he called a "state of the nation address for the sector" at the start of the year of the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the structure of DNA. "Many of you think it will be gloomy, but this is because of a focus on share prices." While this measure is important, and for some executives vital, he said, there are broader indicators showing that the fundamentals of the sector are strong.

"We have good companies delivering the goods, even if the equity market is not there," he said. For example, some significant deals were done in the past year, such as Xenova plc with Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc., Antisoma plc with F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., and Cambridge Antibody Technology Group plc (CAT) with Oxford GlycoSciences plc (OGS).

"Some companies are even becoming profitable; recent figures show there are 16 profitable biotech companies in the UK, quite encouraging even when compared to the U.S.'s 40," Chiswell said.

On the financial front, the UK sector as a whole raised £330 million (US$492 million) last year, around half the total for the whole of Europe, and in some areas there is a thriving start-up environment despite the funding problems. "In the Cambridge area in 2001 there were around 100 proposed start-ups and some of them even got funding."

But Chiswell said the most significant development in 2002 was the number of product approvals, including Frovatriptan from Vernalis plc, Zavesca from OGS and D2E7 (Humira), an antibody discovered by the company Chiswell founded, CAT, and registered by Abbott Laboratories.

"One day I will get used to calling D2E7 Humira, but not yet," Chiswell said. He added that Humira illustrated the long-term support companies need. "It was 13 years to the day from when CAT was founded to D2E7's approval. None of the business plans said it would take that long."

He added, "Even though that sounds like a long time, in fact it has been relatively rapid progress. We didn't even know how to make human antibodies 13 years ago. Once we figured that out, CAT's partners, BASF and then Abbott, took just less than six years from first into man to Humira's FDA approval."

Humira is one of a number of antibody therapeutics that is revolutionizing the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. "And we shouldn't forget that helping patients is what motivates most of us in this industry," Chiswell concluded.