Allan named chief of NHS spin-out

Evotec head joins innovations unit amid life sciences warning

SCOTTISH Health Innovations, the company tasked with commercialising technological ideas out of NHS Scotland, has ended months of searching for a chief executive by appointing pharmaceuticals heavyweight Sandy Allan.

He joins from Evotec (Scotland), a drug formulation and steriles manufacturer originally called ProPharma, where he held a similar post.

His appointment coincides with a warning that Scotland needs to raise its profile on the global stage if it is to remain competitive in life sciences.

Carl Weissman, a venture capitalist based on the west coast of America, told the Scottish biotechnology community last week that it cannot afford to ease up on the international marketing front or it risks being left behind in landing significant healthcare deals.

Weissman is president and chief executive officer of Seattle Accelerator, a privately owned biotechnology incubator which is looking to invest in Scotland. He told the 6th Bioindustry Association Thistle Bioscience Forum in Edinburgh: "Securing the right executive at the helm of an organisation and responsible for rolling out tomorrow's key biotech products and deals is every bit as crucial as the technology itself.

Hi-tech innovations with a strong medical dimension were singled out by David Marmonti, Dell's president of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), during a visit to Scotland last week. "The bar keeps getting raised, especially in vertical industries like healthcare where there is a constant drive to discover and develop the next big round of life science ideas," he said.

SHIL's chairman Peter Shakeshaft, a member of the Edinburgh investment syndicate Archangel, said: "We're entering a new era by getting someone of Sandy's calibre on board. Working closely with the health boards, SHIL engages in a process of intense activity involving a growing portfolio of innovative projects."

The end product is expected to be a series of spin-outs and licence deals across a range of medical fields. The Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform co-fund the company.

Sandy Allan's first public engagement was to present the SHIL Award at last week's annual Scottish Life sciences dinner for best innovation originating from NHS Scotland.

He said "Through the hard work of my predecessors and the team here at SHIL, the company has a well-deserved reputation in the field of medical innovation. SHIL's commitment to the vision of improving patient care drives the success of the company, and I look forward to leading SHIL in the future and seeing the next generation of ideas commercialised.

Early success for SHIL came with its investment in Touch EMAS now Touch Bionics %u2013 a company spun out from Lothian Primary Care Trust to create the world's first fully modular prosthetic arm.

Last month the company was central to a £2.5m deal involving Lumicure Limited of St Andrews, the local university and NHS Tayside.

With no extra money on offer, Scotland may suffer, Porter says. "Scotland has some advantages over England because you have a more supportive government here. But if you're going to operate in that market, you've got to get the chequebook out.