Where now for our promising life sciences and medtech relationship with China and the Chinese? The coronavirus crisis seems to have polarised our opinion of them but strengthened their opinion of us, writes Dr Simon Haworth, head of The Sino-UK fund.

China’s appetite for UK health technology has never been greater. Investment capital awaits us in China if we could only access it, and the vast and growing Chinese market offers us the opportunity to generate the best form of company financing of all – revenue. 

But have travel quarantines and personal prejudice now extinguished any lingering aspirations to re-engage? I think not. There is a way forward, building on what we have learned.

But let’s start with that polarisation of opinion. “Stop eating bats”; “confess to errors made”; “China has shown its true, dark and foreboding colours”; “leave well alone” say some. 

“China’s turn to lead”; “America’s loss is Britain’s gain”; “strong central government has some merit”; “Come to China” say others. 

Both sides are broadcasting their messages with equal vigour, whilst the dangerous oaf blunders on, frightening scientists and others with his unending stream of self-promotion at the expense of all else (Dangerous Oaf? what a beautifully succinct moniker that is for America’s 45th President, as coined by this esteemed newspaper’s CEO Tony Quested).

Board opinion of China has polarised too, depending on how a particular company has traded with China in the past. 

Companies that engaged with ‘old’ China as a sub-contract manufacturing base treat the crisis as a catalyst for change. Worried that too much manufacturing power was concentrated in one geography, many boards had been considering whether to spread manufacturing capacity more widely. 

The crisis galvanises these fears into action and we will see many companies moving manufacturing to different locations. Interestingly one potentially attractive option that is apparently being considered by many, due to its low labour costs and an increasingly stable environment, is Mexico. I can almost hear the US President’s reaction from here.

But companies linked to the innovation economy see the crisis as a catalyst for change in the opposite direction. It is time to take the growth opportunities unique to the Chinese market. Take healthcare, for example, to understand the opportunity. 

Only around 15 per cent of the Chinese population currently accesses Western medicine, whilst the majority still rely on Traditional Chinese Medicine. The Chinese government has set a target of 80 pr cent access to Western Meds as an important commitment of government policy. 

With a population of around 1.5 billion this provides an extraordinary opportunity for our pharma and life sciences companies. Imagine, then, if the world goes into a deep recession. Where will new revenue come from? With the statistics above, China will represent one of the few growth opportunities globally, even if China’s GDP goes backwards. 

Personally, I come from the ‘It’s China’s turn’ camp and have a biased view. We held the baton of world leadership once. America took it from us. China is stepping up to run the next leg – and of course the US is resisting handing it over. 

But new China will surpass US GDP before long and whilst I don’t expect a world dominated by one superpower I do believe that China will be the strongest force in years to come – whether we like it or not.

Much of my China experience has been centred around the now-famous city of Wuhan in Central China. I had never heard of Wuhan before my first visit there but was shown round by a friend at a Chinese contract research firm that I was talking to and he and his colleagues helped me participate in a major local funding competition called the 3551 Talent Program. 

We didn’t win in the first year but in the second year we did – generating hundreds of thousands of pounds of what the Chinese call ‘free money’ ie non-dilutive funding from Chinese government sources designed to attract companies to a particular location. 

As it happens I was in Wuhan – a city that I have been visiting every two months or so for the last eight years – on January 14 this year then flew up to Beijing for meetings with Chinese government ministers before flying back to the UK on January 17 as the crisis took hold. Friends in Wuhan and across China have been giving me a running commentary on the crisis and China’s response since then.

In Wuhan right now one’s degree of lockdown depends on the incidence of COVID-19 in your community – the group of apartment blocks in the gated community you live in. Those with high incidence continue to have strict lockdown measures in place. 

Meanwhile in Beijing – where lockdown measures were almost as stringent as those in Wuhan – travel and quarantine restrictions for those travelling within China have at last been lifted. 

International visitors flying into Beijing still need to spend 14 days in quarantine but visitors arriving in Beijing from within China do not. Life is slowly returning to normal.

But here is the problem. As any China enthusiast can tell you, doing business in China is all about personal relationships and these must be developed face-to-face.

It seems that Zoom might come to the rescue, however. Many of us have been re-trained to make initial contacts by videoconference over these last few weeks. 

Just today I have met a tech team on Zoom to discuss use of their cloud service, had a team meeting that would normally have been held in Nottingham UK and had a 1:1 Zoom update with a friend in Wuhan whom I have always previously met face-to-face. 

He tells me that Zoom and WeChat video conferencing are being embraced but we are yet to prove that the Chinese will accept their use for first meetings once the dust has settled. 

But I believe that the promise is there. More importantly we have confirmation that UK companies can participate in upcoming funding events in Wuhan by video conference. This would be genuinely useful and valuable. 
Meanwhile the most frustrating consequence of the crisis for my colleague Richard Leaver and me is that we have been forced to put our new growth capital fund on hold. 

It will come back, but we have decided to develop a new advisory business to lead the way in the short term which will run alongside the fund once it is back on stream. The Dynastybio advisory business is helping UK companies access China, using our local teams in China to make the local connections and making maximum use of Zoom et al.

The louder the Dangerous Oaf complains, the stronger the relationship between China and Britain becomes. Grant funding, equity funding, subsidiary set up, market access, accelerated clinical trials and industry partnering are all on offer for our biotech, medtech and pharma companies prepared to make the effort. 

We are already in discussion with a number of listed and private life science companies who want to lean on our personal networks in China and our first virtual delegation will be ready soon.

It is time for empathy, virtual engagement, humility and basic common sense on all sides. Much of that will be difficult for some world leaders. 

We have to ensure that we are not amongst them, start looking ahead and preparing for the next big issue of antibiotic resistance, allow ourselves to generate real benefit for UK companies and technologies by re-engaging with new China, and hope that the market realities post COVID-19 help us deliver on the promise of the UK-China relationship.

Cambridge technology innovators Riverlane, Hitachi and Arm are at the heart of a £7.6 million initiative to deliver a highly advanced quantum operating system.

A consortium led by Riverlane, a quantum computing software developer has been awarded the multimillion pound grant from the Government’s Industrial Challenge Strategy Fund.

The project will deliver an operating system that allows the same quantum software to run on different types of quantum computing hardware. 

By working together the quantum operating system, Deltaflow.OS, will be installed on every quantum computer in the UK accelerating the commercialisation of the sector nationally.

Joining the consortium are the UK’s most innovative quantum hardware companies – SeeQC, Hitachi Europe, Universal Quantum, Duality Quantum Photonics, Oxford Ionics, and Oxford Quantum Circuits, along with UK-based chip designer Arm, and the National Physical Laboratory.

Dr Steve Brierley, CEO of Riverlane, said: “We are delighted to have been awarded this grant to build and install the quantum operating system Deltaflow.OS on all leading hardware platforms in the UK.

“Together with consortium partners, we have a unique opportunity to accelerate the commercialisation of the UK quantum technology sector and overtake global competitors in this space.”

Dr M. Fernando Gonzalez Zalba, head of Quantum Computing at the Hitachi Cambridge Laboratory, added: “At Hitachi Europe, we are building a quantum computer based on the very same microprocessor technology that we can find in our laptops, cars and mobile phones. 

“Deltaflow.OS will enable us to deliver a full stack solution that will help solve customer’s greatest computational challenges.”

In the very same way that regular computers need an operating system, quantum computers need one, too. However, there is no quantum version of Windows, IOS or Linux. 

Without an operating system computers would be much less useful. By automating the scheduling of tasks and allocation of resources, such as memory and disk space, operating systems simplify the use of computers so everyone can benefit from them. 

Quantum computers are expected to outperform conventional computers at specific tasks, such as predicting the properties of a new medicine or vaccine. 

To get the best performance out of quantum computers, elements of conventional computers and quantum computers have to be integrated tightly, which makes it difficult to design an operating system.

Deltaflow.OS is the first of its kind. While competitors typically present quantum computers as a ‘black box’, Deltaflow.OS exposes the different elements of the full quantum computing stack. 

This gives users the power to schedule tasks in an optimal way, improving the performance of quantum computers by orders of magnitude compared to other leading approaches. Once the hardware and software are tightly integrated, the performance is expected to improve even further.

Riverlane, which specialises in quantum software, will lead on the development of a dataflow framework, a runtime and powerful quantum applications. 

Leading hardware companies ≠ SeeQC, Oxford Quantum Circuits, Hitachi Europe, Universal Quantum, Oxford Ionics and Duality Quantum Photonics – will evolve their technology and develop firmware for their quantum processors that will later interface with Deltaflow.OS. 

Arm will develop specific control systems emulators. A prerequisite for delivering a portable yet hardware-aware system is a standardised hardware abstraction layer. 

The National Physical Laboratory will coordinate the definition of this standardised interface based on its expertise in developing technical standards for breakthrough technology and will hence play a vital role in delivering the project.

• PHOTOGRAPH: Dr Steve Brierley (centre) with members of the Riverlane team

Featurespace, the Cambridge company that uses AI technology to help financial institutions detect fraud, has raised £30 million of new growth capital.

CEO Martina King says the cash will be used to support continued expansion in the UK, the US, Singapore, Europe and Australia. 

The round was led by Merian Chrysalis Investment Company Limited and also included further funding from a number of existing investors. 

King said: “During these challenging times our machine learning models have automatically adapted to the shift in consumer, business and criminal behaviour. 

“It is our continued focus to deliver industry-leading, fraud and anti-money laundering solutions to our customers and partners.

“We are grateful to our existing investors for continuing to back our growth and we are delighted to welcome Merian Chrysalis to our investment community.”

Richard Watts, portfolio manager at Merian Chrysalis, added: “Featurespace has developed truly innovative technology and provides financial institutions with a world-class solution in the fast-growing fraud detection and prevention market. 

“We are delighted to announce this fantastic addition to the Merian Chrysalis portfolio and we look forward to supporting the Featurespace team as they continue to grow and develop the business.”

The seeds of Featurespace’s Adaptive Behavioral Analytics were sown within the University of Cambridge. The technology takes a unique approach to spotting anomalies to catch fraud and money laundering. 

It’s a real-time, machine-learning software platform for fraud prevention and anti-money laundering risk and scores transactions and other events in more than 180 countries. 

The technology learns the ‘normal’ digital behaviour of each entity at every interaction with a business, spotting anomalies while simultaneously reducing friction and improving customer satisfaction.

Featurespace raised £25m in January 2019 in a round led by Insight Venture Partners and MissionOG and that helped a push into Atlanta where headcount has virtually tripled. The company continues to recruit on both sides of the Atlantic.

UK video games company Frontier Developments is basking in an unprecedented surge that is taking it closer to the magical billion dollar valuation mark.

Its share price has surged on the back of recent announcements to nudge its market cap to almost $816m. 

The company, which is anchored at Cambridge Science Park, recently clinched an exclusive IP licence with Games Workshop to develop and publish a real-time strategy game within the rich and extensive world of Warhammer Age of Sigmar.

Frontier now expects revenue to be towards the top of the previously stated range of £65-73 million for the current financial year ending May 31 with operating profit, as reported under IFRS, anticipated to be within the range of £11-13m.

To offer even more cause for optimism regarding continued growth, a fresh report says global videogames sales rocketed 63 per cent in March alone.

Inspirational CEO David Braben said: “Like many companies selling mainly online in the digital entertainment industry we have seen increases in demand for our products.

“This started in China from February and in much of the rest of the world from Marc, and is likely related to global lockdown conditions. We believe the immersive and creative nature of our games and the engaging play times of hundreds of hours makes them particularly popular in today’s uncertain world.”

The Warhammer licence is another massive coup for the business. Warhammer Age of Sigmar is Games Workshop’s most recent iteration of the globally renowned fantasy setting in which the four Grand Alliances of Order, Chaos, Death and Destruction vie for control of the Mortal Realms. 

Unique and distinct in style, and endless in scope, this ever growing universe sits alongside the far future dystopia of Warhammer 40,000 as the most successful tabletop miniatures games in the world.

Frontier has the exclusive rights to develop and publish a real-time strategy game worldwide on PC and console platforms, together with the rights for streaming services. The game is planned for release in Frontier’s financial year ending May 31.

Frontier’s development roadmap is now stronger than ever, with two major releases from internal development teams now confirmed for each of FY22 and FY23. 

FY22 will benefit from the multi-platform release of a game based on an as yet unrevealed major global IP and the release of Frontier’s first Formula 1 multi-platform management game alongside the 2022 F1 season. 

FY23 will see the release of the 2023 Formula 1 management game and the Warhammer Age of Sigmar multi-platform real-time strategy game.

For the current financial year two internally developed major releases are also planned: Planet Coaster expanding onto PlayStation and Xbox, and a major new paid-for release for Elite Dangerous.

FY21 and beyond will also benefit from releases from Frontier’s third party publishing initiative. Two games have been signed for release in FY21, with a further three already signed for FY22 and scope for more. Five or six third party game releases per year are expected from FY23 onwards.

Frontier acted quickly to transition the majority of its 500+ staff to homeworking during March, prior to the lockdown. Despite this, Frontier was able to release both the Elite Dangerous: Fleet Carriers Beta update and the Planet Zoo: South America Pack on schedule before Easter and to a positive reception.

Braben said it was too early to judge the long-term effect of homeworking on efficiency and there remains significant uncertainty regarding how long the lockdown may continue but the company does not foresee a permanent loss of efficiency.

Braben said: “The company is in a strong position and while the board continues to monitor closely the impact of COVID-19, we do not currently expect to use government employment support or apply for grants. 
“We continue to recruit and we already have a number of new joiners who have started with us by working from home. The business has a strong, debt-free balance sheet with cash of approximately £40 million, which allows us to continue to invest in our strategy of developing and nurturing high quality games.

“We are delighted to announce this licence with Games Workshop. I personally think it’s great news that two such well-established and world-class creative UK companies with global reach are collaborating on a new project. 

“Our roadmap is looking stronger than ever with two games from our internal developments for each of FY22 and FY23 and an exciting portfolio coming up from our third party publishing initiative, starting in FY21.

“I am incredibly proud of the positive reaction of our staff to the challenges of COVID-19 and would like to thank them all for their dedication.”

The coronavirus outbreak hit the entertainment industry hard, causing enormous losses for the companies operating in this sector generally. However, as millions of people started spending more time indoors and online, the last few months have witnessed a surge in video gaming.

According to data gathered by GoldenCasinoNews, from March 16 to March 22, the global video games sales jumped 63 per cent with a total of 4.3 million games sold worldwide. At the same time, like-for-like game sales rose by 44 per cent globally.

In that period, the global console games sales surged by 155 per cent and spending hit $1.5bn in March. The United States ranked as the leading country globally and a recent survey in the US showed that one in five respondents expected to spend more on gaming due to the coronavirus outbreak.

French gamers ranked second with a 38 per cent increase in time spent playing video games. The UK and Germany followed with respective 29 per cent and 20 per cent increases.

Hospital staff could be carrying SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 disease, without realising they are infected, according to a study by Cambridge University researchers.

Patients admitted to NHS hospitals are now routinely screened for the SARS-CoV-2 virus and isolated if necessary. But NHS workers, including patient-facing staff on the front line, such as doctors, nurses and physiotherapists, are tested and excluded from work only if they develop symptoms of the illness. 

Many of them, however, may show no symptoms at all even if infected, as a new study published in the journal eLife demonstrates.

The Cambridge team pro-actively swabbed and tested over 1,200 NHS staff at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, throughout April. 

The samples were analysed using a technique called PCR to copy and read the genetic information of material present on the swab, producing a colour change whenever the coronavirus was present in a specimen. At the same time, staff members were asked about relevant coronavirus symptoms.

Of the more than 1,000 staff members reporting fit for duty during the study period, three per cent nevertheless tested positive for the coronavirus. 

On closer questioning, around one in five reported no symptoms, two in five had very mild symptoms that they had dismissed as inconsequential and a further two in five reported COVID-19 symptoms that had stopped more than a week previously.

To probe routes of possible transmission of the virus through the hospital and among staff, the researchers also looked at whether rates of infection were greater among staff working in ‘red’ areas of the hospital, those areas caring for COVID-19 patients. 

Despite wearing appropriate personal protective equipment, red area staff were three times more likely to tested positive than staff working in COVID-19 free ‘green’ areas. 

It’s not clear whether this genuinely reflects greater rates of transmission from patients to staff in red areas. Staff may have instead transmitted the virus to each other or acquired it at home. 

Staff working in the red areas were also swabbed earlier in the study, closer to when the lockdown was first initiated, so the higher rates of infection in this group might just be a symptom of higher rates of virus circulating in the community at the time.

Nevertheless, extrapolating these results to the more than half a million patient-facing staff working across the NHS UK-wide suggests that as many as 15,000 workers may have been on duty and infected, with the potential to transmit the virus to co-workers, family members and patients, during the month of April. In fact, this figure could be even higher in settings where the supply of PPE has been very problematic.

The implications of the new study, say senior authors Dr Mike Weekes and Professor Stephen Baker from the Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Disease, are that hospitals need to be vigilant and introduce screening programmes across their workforces. 

“Test! Test! Test! And then test some more,” Dr Weekes exhorts. “All staff need to get tested regularly for COVID-19, regardless of whether they have any sort of symptoms – this will be vital to stop infection spreading within the hospital setting.”

Ruth Logan, head of assurance at EY in Cambridge, describes the challenges companies are facing in the current crisis and how they are responding with entrepreneurialism, planning and positivity. 

In business, cash is king. Businesses ultimately fail because they run out of cash, so even a profitable business can get into trouble if it has insufficient credit terms from suppliers or inadequate alternative funding for its working capital needs.

There is no doubt that businesses continue to face unprecedented challenges and are having to make very difficult decisions; including adapting or reducing their operations, temporarily ceasing to trade, or sadly closing altogether. 

For those able to revive their business, there will come a period of re-evaluation. Some will find the ‘new norm’ difficult to adjust to and some will struggle to pull through, but there will be others who have embraced the opportunities created by the crisis and will thrive. 

Opportunities for entrepreneurs and visionaries 

Responding quickly to the situation, business leaders with an entrepreneurial mindset shifted their operating models within days to adapt to the new world order. 

For example, manufacturers turned their skills and machinery to make ventilators and other essential medical support devices; restaurant owners devised intelligent ways to make home food deliveries; and media companies offered additional interactive home entertainment. 

Investing in a digital strategy before the crisis began, such as online communications, ordering or payments, is certainly proving its worth right now. 

The East of England is known for its diversity; it’s strength in technology, innovation and pharma industries, for its huge swathes of agricultural land and tourism on the coast. These industries have been some of the hardest hit by COVID-19 and the continued lockdown measures.  

Others, such as those working on supporting activities to find a vaccine for COVID-19 or providing solutions for shortages in respiratory support and PPE are busier than ever, bringing with it different challenges, such as ensuring employee health and wellbeing and supply and demand. 

It’s also been well reported that some businesses operating in rural locations and those involved in arable farming will face challenges associated with labour shortages, due to the closure of borders, at what is for many the peak of their season. 

Regardless of sector, COVID-19 is having a far-reaching impact on businesses. How they respond and, in some cases, recover will depend greatly on how they can adapt to these unprecedented challenges and perhaps access the financial support that is being offered by the UK Government and beyond.  

Welcomed government support

The 100 per cent guarantee scheme, which encourages banks to lend to struggling businesses, is a welcome introduction by the Government. In addition, businesses on the brink may be relieved to see that usual rules on wrongful trading of an insolvent business have been suspended, to allow directors to do everything they can to rescue their businesses without fear of exposure to personal liability. 

What will also help is the postponement of plans to establish HMRC as a secondary preferential creditor – in respect of certain taxes including: VAT, PAYE and employee NICs – from April to December 2020. 

This will give directors more time to understand and navigate the impact of the legislative changes on all creditors, especially if there is a strong chance the company may not emerge solvent from this crisis.

Strong sense of unity

We have already seen the level of pressure companies are facing, demonstrated by a sharp upturn in the number of profit warnings issued by listed businesses across the UK. 

Although, due to the business landscape, with fewer listed companies, the East of England has been largely sheltered. However it is in the region’s retail, hospitality and leisure sectors, particularly on easterly coastal areas where the impact will most keenly be felt. 

Although the impact is no doubt being felt throughout the economy, what is positive to see is the examples of how companies are adapting and acting to support their employees, supply chains and communities that will benefit now and in the future. 

Companies across the East of England have demonstrated incredible resilience in recent years and a strong sense of unity and belief that ‘we are in this together’ will help businesses to reshape and emerge from the crisis.

ey.com

The recent enforced changes in how we work as well as where we work raises questions as to how commercial office space will change in the future, writes Barnaby Clark, Sales and Marketing Director of office design and fit-out specialist, COEL.

A couple of things are evident: for some businesses working from home previously would not have been an option and yet the current lockdown will validate that many employees can work from home and indeed may prefer to. 

Conversely, the deluge of those signing up to Zoom and other communicative technology proves the basic need for most to feel the connectivity and vitality of team dynamics. 

These diverse themes compounded with the likely requirement to cut costs and safeguard employees from infection leads to the question of whether it is possible to create the ideal workplace for a changing world.

COEL recognises that the workplace can act as a facilitator for enhancing company culture and that employees flourish when their work environment is designed with their needs in mind. 

With regards to ongoing costs, a thoughtful design respecting the requirements of the individuals and offering diversity in the methods of working will pay you dividends.

A few years ago, COEL undertook a major project for Bidwells following the firm’s ambitious plan for its headquarters in Trumpington to become the first truly agile refurbished building in Cambridge. 

They wanted their staff to be rewarded on output and performance rather than traditional 9-5 attendance. Staff were given a Surface Pro laptop and a mobile phone each; giving them the option to work from home or from one of the many different work points. 

In the year after the refurbishment was completed Bidwells found they had made incredible economic and ecological savings as well as having significant improvement in staff retention and wellbeing:-

• Electricity costs per head in Bidwell House reduced by 27.5 per cent
• Water costs per head reduced by 31 per cent
• A reduced printing cost of 70 per cent
• A reduced stationary cost of 38 per cent
• Average employee satisfaction levels rose from 53 per cent in January 2018 to around 70 per cent from April 2018 after moving into the refurbished Bidwell House
• Significantly employee sick days have reduced by 23 per cent since adopting an agile way of working

At present we are project managing a scheme to merge the three floors a company presently occupy into one floor. The consolidation process must be done sympathetically and with a commitment to ensure that the workplace is not compromised and that the employees requirements are fulfilled.

Whilst there are clear economic benefits for our client, COEL gives precedence to designing a workplace which builds community, inspires and motivates staff whilst also putting a spotlight on employee health.
Protecting employees’ health and wellbeing will be a prime concern now more than ever. 

Home working has been a practical necessity in recent weeks however, the consequences of people feeling lonely and detached from others can result in a rise in mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. 

The workplace is more than the place people go to to and do their job it is a forum which provides potential connection and collaboration with others, routine, purpose, and a sense of being part of a team.

These are basic human needs that need addressing and in order to do so we must use spaces differently, be flexible and adapt to a changing world. With the benefit of modern technology and products, COEL can provide solutions to concerns, some of which are the following:-

• Provision of cycling racks to enable staff to cycle rather than get public transport
• Automatic doors installed at the building entrance to limit contact with surfaces
• For new building plans larger lift lobbies should be considered to enable fewer occupants on each lift trip
• Ensure there is easy access to stairs, and with multiple staircases having each allocated as ‘up’ or ‘down’ only
• Introduce ‘one directional’ routes around larger offices to help prevent frequent circulation crossovers when social distancing cannot be maintained
• Flooring details that remind staff of 2m distancing
• Signage details that provide reminders of expected distancing and protocols
• Levy a practice of keeping desks clear and as a result easier to clean 
• Privacy screens can be set up to protect workspaces

It will also be crucial to use materials in the design of the workspace which have anti-bacterial qualities and are easy to clean and maintain – such as wipeable wallpaper, anti-bacterial carpets and ceiling tiles.

Office space should become more streamlined and areas eliminated where bacteria and viruses could linger. We would also recommend reviewing air conditioning systems that are in place and updating rest rooms to provide touch-free door access and ensure the provision of correct supply and extract ventilation. 

It goes without saying that premises should provide hand sanitisers and hand washing facilities in obvious and accessible locations. Offices can also install touch free taps in the kitchens and bathrooms.

We suggest minimising the use of cupboards and instead have open units and shelves. Offices should ensure a regular cleaning rota and give staff access to antibacterial gel and sprays.

Importantly, companies should invest in smart technology – such as apps which can call for lifts and track occupancy for different areas of the building.

Plant wellbeing is another important consideration; by providing botanical displays employees benefit from the positive effects of being near nature and at the same time the plants will help purify the air.

COEL prioritises making working lives better and partnering with our clients to solve their workplace challenges. All businesses will be looking to invest in a sustainable future by safeguarding staff and at the same time meet their expectations of success. 

The current climate offers new challenges which the COEL team will continue to meet and provide positive solutions to. 

coel.co.uk

GW Pharmaceuticals plc, which is pioneering medicines based on cannabis, has scaled fresh heights in terms of financial performance and advancement of treatments in the US and Europe in the first quarter of 2020.

The Cambridge, UK headquartered business has turned its cannaboid-based medicines into a pot of gold in Q1, soaring to revenues of $120.6 million from $392m this time last year. At the same time GW has scythed losses from $50.1m in Q1 2019 to just $8m this time.

Despite investment in growth cash burn is more like a slight singe: cash and equivalents at March 31, 2020 were $500.9m compared to $536.9m at December 31.

The jewel in the crown is Epidiolex® for which net product sales scaled to $116.1m. 

CEO Justin Gover said: “In the first quarter of 2020 we have seen continued strength of the Epidiolex brand in both the US and Europe and remain confident about prospects for growth in the remainder of the year. 

“Having been granted priority review by the FDA for our proposed label expansion to include TSC, our US commercial team is actively preparing for the launch of this indication in August.”

Nasdaq-quoted GW had been granted Orphan Drug Designation from the FDA for Cannabidiol for the treatment of TSC (Tuberous Sclerosis Complex) a rare genetic disorder, the most common symptom of which is epilepsy. 

Epilepsy occurs in around 80-90 per cent of TSC patients and is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality.

Gover added: “In this current environment caused by COVID-19, we have been able to support the epilepsy community remotely and maintain production of Epidiolex, while taking necessary steps to maintain the wellbeing of our employees. 

“Looking ahead, GW is well placed to emerge strongly from the COVID-19 crisis with significant growth prospects for Epidiolex in the US and Europe, important pipeline clinical trials ready to execute, a strong balance sheet, and an unparalleled leading position in cannabinoid science.”

Three Cambridge technology innovators have had government support for ventilator designs in which they were instrumental terminated following a further review.

Cambridge Consultants, Sagentia and TTP were co-designers of their particular models but have now met the same fate as Team Consulting for whom financial support was ended in April.

The Cabinet Office confirmed that, following re-assessment from a panel of expert clinicians, the department was ending support for five deisngs which included Veloci-Vent, made by Cambridge Consultants Ltd and MetLase;
CoVent made by TTP and Dyson and the Sagentia Ventilator, made by Sagentia.

Director, Medical Devices Testing and Evaluation Centre, Dr Tom Clutton-Brock said: “All five designs have made exceptional progress since the start of the Ventilator Challenge, with a number of devices having been assessed as having viable designs by expert clinicians. 

“However they would require further development before they would be ready for clinical testing and they are not currently required to meet immediate demand. Companies may continue to develop their designs, including for CE-marking.”

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove revealed that a batch of new ventilators under the Ventilator Challenge has arrived in the UK to continue supporting NHS patients with coronavirus: 150 devices, made up of the Vivo65 and the Nippy4+ ventilators from Breas Medical have arrived from Sweden.

The Government has ordered 2000 of the devices, with hundreds expected to arrive over the coming weeks.

Gove said: “The arrival of the Breas Medical devices further underlines the Ventilator Challenge’s success in stepping up the number of ventilators in the UK.

“These devices are well suited to helping patients in intensive care and will complement the two other Ventilator Challenge devices currently on the NHS frontline.

“We are also hugely grateful to those companies that will not be progressing further in the Ventilator Challenge. They can be proud of the part they played in the national effort to protect the NHS and save lives.”

The UK now has over 11,000 mechanical invasive ventilators available in total.

• PHOTOGRAPH: Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove – Crown Copyright.

It is perhaps unavoidable that this month’s column concentrates on the main issue on everyone’s mind – the current crisis in which we find ourselves, writes Will Mooney, Partner, Carter Jonas Cambridge. 

There is no getting away from it, try as we might to switch conversations to other topics, they inevitably lead back to the pandemic, and its impact on nearly every aspect of our lives – some trivial, sadly many tragic.

Given the focus of this column, it seems right to discuss the pandemic in the context of real estate. As a firm, like many other businesses in our network, we have been working hard to reassure our clients that despite lockdown, we are here. 

Although physical offices are temporarily closed, teams are working and can be contacted on normal numbers and emails. Once that was established, we have had to adapt to how we support our clients and how we advise them. As well as the most pressing issues facing both landlords and occupiers, we are also dealing with long-term considerations.

Undoubtedly, the Covid-19 crisis will have a significant impact on the corporate occupier sector, at least in the short-term. When we talk of occupiers, of course, what we are really talking about are businesses with employees. 

In this climate, many clients are taking a wait-and-see approach before committing to high-capital-expenditure projects, such as an office relocation, to see what impact the pandemic has on revenues and staff headcount. 

I have mentioned before that real estate often represents the second largest operating cost of most businesses, after staff salaries. It is very likely then that in the coming months, some businesses will be implementing policies to downsize and reduce their exposure to property costs.

Further, developers have had to shut down construction of new office buildings which will disrupt completion timelines and office moves. A number of occupiers that have entered pre-completion of construction letting agreements are now looking to extend their leases on their existing premises to tide them over until the building that they were scheduled to move to is ready. 

Whilst many landlords are working to accommodate such requests, difficulties arise when the tenant’s existing space has already been committed to another occupier. 

In these circumstances, occupiers that have been affected by the delayed completion are considering alternative temporary accommodation – serviced offices being an obvious solution.

Equally, some tenants with lease expiries, that have not already committed to a contract on alternative premises, are looking to defer a planned office move and seek a short-term lease extension from their landlord. Instead, they are planning a reassessment of the business’ operational and floorspace needs later, when economic conditions become more certain.

Whilst office demand remained relatively strong before the COVID-19 crisis, the supply of quality space has been highly constrained. Construction activity has been subdued ever since the financial crisis a decade ago and has been on a downward trend over the last two years. 

As a result, there is a shortage of grade A supply relative to robust demand in many markets, which will help to cushion rental falls at the prime end. 
However, even a small decrease in rents could lead to buildings that might have once been considered too expensive for some occupiers, now priced at a level that is attractive enough to encourage movement. 

Additionally, some landlords may well have the opportunity to restructure tenancies with their existing tenants and keep space filled and income-producing.

The longer-term impact of the enforced and potentially lengthy period of working at home for many office employees is difficult to gauge. The current situation will likely lead to a readjustment as to how many of us operate and utilise space. 

It is expected to accelerate the trend towards home working and lead to businesses reviewing their operating practices. I think it may also bring into sharper focus the importance of office space as a place to communicate, share ideas, foster team spirit and corporate identity.

It is an understatement to say that the current situation is challenging. As businesses grapple with planning for their future, against a backdrop of much uncertainty and in a climate that is constantly evolving, few issues will be easy to determine. However, solutions are being found. 

Whether you have a pressing concern or are trying to understand how your business may be affected, do keep asking questions and talking to people who can help. 

And, as I said last month, I hope that you are all safe and sound and keeping well.