Edinburgh has gained a global reputation in biotechnology, driven by young, fast-growing Scottish companies, writes Rob Stokes

TWENTY years ago, the world wondered at the Roslin Institute’s unveiling of Dolly the sheep (1996-2003), the first mammal to be cloned from an adult animal body cell.

The Roslin area, in Midlothian near Edinburgh, has since developed into one of the Edinburgh Science Triangle’s (EST) vibrant foci of medical and animal health science and business. The city and environs now represent an internationally acknowledged cluster of research excellence and a supportive research, infrastructure and financing ecosystem for university spin-out companies, other start-ups, and bioindustry inward investors.

EST is an umbrella for seven science and technology parks hosting more than 100 high-growth companies across multiple sectors and employing more than 2,000 people. Locations with significance to the include the Roslin BioCentre bioincubator, Pentlands Science Park, Edinburgh BioQuarter, The Edinburgh Technopole, Heriot-Watt University Research Park, and Midlothian BioCampus and 2016 has seen another year of significant developments among companies in this ecosystem.

Part of Dolly’s legacy will be on show at the big Bio Europe event in November 2016, where Censo Biotechnologies, based at Roslin BioCentre, will be on the official delegation flying the flag for Scotland on the UK stand at the conference and exhibition in Germany.

Censo Biotechnologies provides human cells and contract research services for drug discovery, toxicity testing and cell banking. It induces the creation of ‘pluripotent’ stem cells (iPSCs) from large, diverse groups of people. iPSCs may start out as, say, a skin or blood cell, but are transformed so that they have the potential to become virtually any type of cell in the human body.

This allows drug developers to figure out how pharmaceuticals aimed at, for example, brain or lung cells, vary in their efficacy across the population. It helps to speed up drug development and for treatments to be more tailored to patients.

The company was founded in May through the merger of Roslin Cellab and Roslin Cell Sciences, both previous spin-outs from the Roslin Institute. Roslin Cell Sciences, now a subsidiary of Censo, manages the European Bank for Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (EBiSC), an eight-centre consortium led by pharma giant Pfizer, to meet increasing demand for quality-controlled, disease-relevant, research-grade iPSC lines, data and cell services for new medicines development.

Earlier this year, EBiSC launched an online catalogue of iPSC lines to support stem cell researchers focused on understanding the early stages of diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

Roslin BioCentre hosts research institutes and provides space and facilities for research-based new businesses to grow and to rub shoulders with life sciences networking organisations located there.

Other tenants have made significant announcements this year. Ingenza, whose technology assists development of therapies for currently unmet clinical needs, has won European Union funding support to develop Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) biomanufacturing capabilities for producing therapeutic proteins.

Iceni Pharmaceuticals, launched at Roslin BioCentre earlier this year. Its lead product, Cilcane, is an example of a drug originally intended for one purpose being repurposed for another, in this case as a first-in-class treatment for multiple myeloma. Iceni believes Cilcane may also be applicable to breast and other cancers.

Edinburgh BioQuarter is the only UK location offering a world-renowned medical school and a state-of-the-art teaching hospital alongside bespoke biomedical research and development facilities. It already includes the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Queen’s Medical Research Institute, University of Edinburgh Medical School, Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Unit and the Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine.

Aquila BioMedical is among start-up companies thriving at the Nine bioincubator, Edinburgh BioQuarter’s fully fitted and serviced laboratories and offices building for new and early stage companies The contract research organisation (CRO) spun out of the University of Edinburgh in 2012 and recently expanded its lab space and capabilities amid growing demand for its specialist immuno-oncology and histology services. These support biotech and pharma companies’ early drug development programmes by offering specialised assays to investigate therapeutic manipulation of immune cell function.

Aquila’s team of 14 has more than doubled in the past year and is likely to reach 22 in 2017. Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) from Scottish Enterprise has helped to accelerate recruitment plans and to purchase capital equipment.

Life science companies such as Aquila are good for exports. Many start life fully expecting to trade with what is a global industry. "Our potential for international business is high," Clare Doris, Aquila’s chief operating officer said. "We are contracting with multiple parties across the globe. Much of our business comes from biotech/pharma in the US, and we have clients across Europe, Japan and as far as Australia."

She is unequivocal about the benefits that Scottish Enterprise and BioQuarter have brought: "They have helped to develop young SMEs in an environment designed to support growth by providing the infrastructure required to get started."

Edinburgh ticks many boxes as a location to start and grow life sciences companies, she added. "They include its academic excellence, the close-knit community with networks across multiple parties such as NHS Scotland and the University of Edinburgh, and a passion for life science research. Regional development is another factor."

Success brings its own challenges. "We are maxing out our current space," Doris said. "There are plans afoot for the grassland space nearby, but I fear that our expansion plans are not aligned with the pace of development works. Discussions are in progress."

The Edinburgh Technopole, a 126-acre site, hosts life sciences, medicine, electronics and informatics companies. Tenants include BIOBEST, a long-established specialist veterinary virology, serology and DNA diagnostics business. Its research and product development led this year to it offering reduced cost measures for farmers to control and eradicate bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD), a significant drain on farm finances in most countries.

The new national centre of excellence for the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service is due to be fully occupied next year at Heriot-Watt University Research Park. This modern hub for processing, testing, supply, research and development for blood and human donor tissues and cells will be another attractant to the city region for life sciences companies.

BioCampus in Midlothian is Scotland’s first dedicated national bio-manufacturing campus. Work is continuing on a £15m product development, manufacturing and commercial facility for US-owned Quotient Limited, a commercial-stage diagnostics company developing proprietary technology to offer a breadth of tests that it says are unmatched by existing commercially available blood transfusion diagnostic instrument platforms. It’s due for completion in the second half of 2017. 

City in forefront of BIG data revolution

Edinburgh will play leading roles in the Big Data revolution in medicine and healthcare, and in dementia prevention, said Mike Capaldi, CEO of Sunergos Innovations, (pictured right) a University of Edinburgh (UoE) company managing commercialisation of university research.

Created from the former Edinburgh BioQuarter commercialisation team, Sunergos has added commercialisation of specialist engineering alongside its continuing services for human and veterinary medicine.

The Medical Research Council has invested £20m to establish a UK health informatics research institute, the Farr Institute, to pioneer anonymised use of patient and research data for medical research. Scotland is represented in the institute, and a key hub is at Edinburgh BioQuarter. "In addition to health benefits for patients, the institute will help cement our reputation as a world leader in research using large electronic health data," Capaldi said.

The Centre for Dementia Prevention at BioQuarter is to host clinical trials for CHARIOT, a major UK study into brain changes linked to Alzheimer’s disease. The study is sponsored by Janssen Research & Development, which also supports the European Prevention of Alzheimer’s Dementia (EPAD) Programme led by UoE, a deal that was project managed and negotiated by Sunergos.