Selected biotech news

The UK's biotechnology industry was presented with a draft code of best practice to which it is expected to subscribe from the end of October. Drawn up by the BioIndustry Association (BIA) in response to the controversies at British Biotech and other drug development firms, the code requires biotech firms to publish information about their drugs that may be price sensitive only at an 'appropriate' time, and to the London Stock Exchange in the first instance.

This would mean there would be less leakage of information - to lawyers and bankers, for instance. Companies are not obliged to disclose more information about their drugs than do existing London Stock Exchange rules but Robert Mansfield, chairman of BIA, said they were setting out principles, not rules.

Another key recommendation is that firms should make formal use of external scientific advisors who could review the work of the company's own scientists. The BIA said it was shareholders' responsibility to ensure that biotech companies comply with the code. The Bias code is expected to receive strong support from the Stock Exchange and the Association of British Insurers.

The code aims to avoid a repeat of last year's problems in the industry which undermined the once good reputation of biotechnology firms in the City and turned one of the most fashionable sectors in the stock market into one of the least.

Shares in British Biotech, Cortecs and Biocompatibles International - formerly three of the sector's leading firms - have all lost more than 90 per cent of their former value since it emerged that their commercial hopes were far too optimistic.