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(Last updated: 20 Dec 2010)
Trends and opportunities
The market
France has the fifth largest market share of the biotechnology industry in Europe. One of the key strengths of the French biotechnology industry is the number of research institutions, technology parks and scientific personnel active in the industry. This has facilitated technology transfer from academic institutions to the private sector, which is a key component of the French industry.
France’s regulatory environment is considered one of the most transparent in the world, based on European Union (EU) directives. French law also provides tax credits and other financial mechanisms to encourage innovation in biotechnology through research-driven start-ups. Government regulations within the EU, however are quite strict and often require lengthy and costly trials of new products.
In 2004, the French Government launched an initiative to encourage local and regional cooperation to support industry growth. Five thousand organisations came together to form 71 centres of excellence in specific geographic locations to facilitate collaboration within specialised industries. Among these were seven biopoles (biotechnology centres).
Each individual cluster focuses on specific activities:
- Lyon BioPole (Rhône-Alpes): infectious diseases, vaccines and diagnostics (World dimension)
- Medicen Paris Region (île de France): neurology, cancer, CNS, infectious diseases, imaging, molecular and cellular therapies, drug development
- Nutrition Santé Longévité (Nord Pas de Calais): nutrition, healthcare and longevity
- Atlantic Biothérapies (Pays de la Loire): biotherapy, biodiagnostics
- Alsace Biovalley (Alsace): genomics, drugs, non-invasive surgery, medical devices
- CancerBioSanté (Midi-Pyrénées, Limousin): cancer
- Orphème (PACA, Languedoc-Roussillon): emerging pathologies and orphan diseases
In addition to these biopoles, there are eight genopoles specialising in genomics and post-genomics research. These genopoles bring together biotechnology companies, large public laboratories, university laboratories and advanced teaching in the fields of genomics and biology. They aim to encourage large-scale and cross-disciplinary research in projects in biological sciences and foster innovation.
They are located in:
- Evry/Ile de France
- Montpellier and Perpignan/Languedoc Roussillon
- Lille/Nord Pas de Calais
- Lyon and Grenoble/Rhône-Alpes
- Marseille & Nice/PACA
- Strasbourg/Alsace-Lorraine
- Toulouse/Midi-Pyrénées (Toulouse has also developed Agrobiopole, a 300-hectare complex focusing on agricultural biotechnology, as part of the region’s biotechnology strategy)
- Rennes and Nantes/Ouest
Opportunities
Specific opportunities for Australian biotechnology companies include:
- Drug discovery and development – opportunity to initiate collaborative research partnerships, technology transfer agreements or licensing ventures.
- Companies with product commercialisation, business and financial expertise to partner with early stage research companies and institutions.
- Biotech products related to animal food, vegetal production and environment are minimally investigated by French companies and Australian companies could therefore find opportunities for these types of products.
- Potential for generics market growth in France is considerable.
Competitive environment
The French biotechnology industry is dominated by small and medium-sized enterprises, accounting for 80 per cent of the companies. There are also a number of leading multinationals active in the market including Sanofi-Aventis, Roche Diagnostics and Pfizer.
The dominant French companies in the market include LFB, Ethypharm Group, CEREP, Flamel Technologies, Rhobio, Genfit, NicOx, Transgene and Eurofins.
Australia has a strong international reputation for its quality of science and as a source of intellectual capital. Several French biotechnology and biotechnology application companies have invested in Australia, and CSIRO has its European research centre in Montpellier. Australia’s expertise in stem cell research and overall biodiversity is recognised by leading French research organisations and the biotechnology industry.
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