The future of UK bio-pharma - research report

The UK government provides significant financial support to the bio-pharma sector in the form of research and development tax credits and is targeting the pharmaceutical industry as a key driver of UK economic prosperity. But how does the bio-pharma industry operate and how has the industry been affected by the financial crisis?

Dr Pauline Gleadle of The Open University Business School along with Professor Colin Haslam and Dr Nick Tsitsianis (both from the University of Hertfordshire) have been investigating the UK SME bio-pharma sector. Their recently published research report considers the sector and the extent to which innovation, reinvention and capital are at risk. The analysis follows the financial fortunes of bio-pharma firms listed on the Alternative Investment Market since 1998 and reports the views of senior managers from bio-pharma SME’s in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

Pauline is a Chartered Accountant who has worked in different sectors before becoming an academic. Her research interests concern financialisation, broadly the role financial markets play in the behaviour of firms and more generally, the issue of managing innovation and R&D-active knowledge workers.