French Bioindustry Association Calls For More Govt Reforms

French Bioindustry Association Calls For More Govt Reforms

PARIS (Dow Jones)--French bioindustry think tank France Biotech Thursday called on the French government and parliament to finalize the reforms of France's public-sector research and introduce new tax regimes for innovative companies. France now has 14 biotechnology companies listed on NYSE Euronext Paris compared to four listed companies in early 2005.

The last initial public offering was Vivalis (VLS.FR), an embryionic stem cells specialist, which listed in July. Interest in the French biotech sector revived in late 2005, with the announcement of multiple pharmaceutical collaborations and licensing deals, as well as the first listing since 1999 of a biotech company on the Paris Bourse - Exonhit Therapeutics SA (ALEHT.FR). But France is still lagging behind its British, German and Scandinavian neighbors. According to France Biotech, France is ranked third or even fourth in Europe depending on the indicator, with five times fewer listed companies than the U.K.

and a total stock market capitalization three times smaller than that of British companies.

"Today's key issue is to avoid sprinkling the funding around too lightly - efforts must be focused on the companies which will generate tomorrow's growth and innovations," France Biotech said. The association welcomed government measures - such as wealth tax rebates on investments in Small and Medium Enterprises and the forthcoming Research Tax Credit reform - but said they run the risk of having little or no impact due to poorly modeling and the lack of a detailed, global vision of the leverage effect that public funding has on private-sector research.

"The personal wealth tax reform in favor of investment in SMEs will, as it currently stands, be ineffective because the investment is capped at a derisory EUR200,000 and, furthermore, investments by specialist funds are not eligible", France Biotech's Chairman Philippe Pouletty said in a statement. - By Laetitia Bachelot-Fontaine, Dow Jones Newswires; 33 (0)1 40 17 17 40; laetitia.fontaine@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires
From: FXPR.com