Europe’s small biotechnology companies are at severe disadvantage to their U.S. counterparts due to a lack of finance, according to a study by a consultancy group published Wednesday.Critical I’s study presented at the BioVision biotech industry conference in Lyon, France, says the lack of suitable financial infrastructure to help small biotech companies in the later stages of their business cycle is hindering the development of a European industry to rival that of the U.S.As a result, many biotech companies collapse after three-to-four years, said the study which is based on a survey of companies in 15 E.U. countries and the U.S.The study reveals that while Europe and the U.S. have the same number of companies, the U.S. industry employs twice as many people, spends almost three times as much on research and development, raises three-to-four times as much venture capital and has access to four times as much debt finance.Despite this, more startup companies are established in Europe, the report found.
