All About Manchester

Science City

The atomic theory, the splitting of the atom, the Lovell Telescope, the world's first computer - just a few of the things that were made in Manchester. Evie Lucas meets Prof. Mark Ferguson, CEO of Manchester-based biotechnology company Renovo, and discovers that the original modern city is still at the forefront of innovation.

Renovo's head office, off Oxford Road in Manchester city centre, says nothing about this company's phenomenal success. There are no signs advertising that this is the UK's largest biotech company. Or that its work is touching the lives of people across the world. In fact, it is all so low-profile that I have to ask the company's chief executive, the charismatic Prof. Mark Ferguson, to confirm that what I've heard about Renovo is true.

"It is indeed the largest biotech company in the UK both in terms of number of staff and market capitalisation," he replies in an unambiguously matter-of-fact tone. "We have 175 people working here full-time at the moment and this number will probably grow to 200 by the end of this year. And the company is worth somewhere between £350 million and £400 million depending on our share price."

So there, see, I did not make the whole thing up. Now allow me to tell you a very true Mancunian success story.

Originally from Belfast, Prof. Ferguson moved to Manchester in 1984 to take on a professorship at the University of Manchester. Here, as part of his research into cleft lip/palate, which involved experiments with alligator embryos, he discovered that when an embryo is wounded, it heals without scarring. He then went on to investigate why embryos heal like that and eventually discovered how new drugs could be used to prevent scarring in people.

Professor Mark Ferguson, CEO of Manchester biotechnology firm Renovo

The discovery was patented and formed the basis of spinning out Renovo, before it was published and showered with prizes. When Prof. Ferguson and his colleague Dr Sharon O'Kane founded the company in 2000, the university assigned the discovery patents to Renovo in return for shares in the company, and the quest for the right investors began.

It did not take long before a number of high-profile multinational companies took the bait, including Boston-based Atlas Venture, New York-based JP Morgan and HealthCap from Stockholm, giving Renovo the thumbs up to start developing pharmaceutical drugs for the prevention and reduction of scarring and for the acceleration of healing.

In 2006 the company was floated on the main list of the London stock exchange, raising £67.5 million, and in June this year it signed an $825 million licensing deal with Shire Plc for its lead drug Juvista.

If you like numbers you must be in awe of this company already, but for the rest of us the wow factor is in the global significance of Renovo's work. Scarring is something that affects everyone who is wounded. Juvista is for the prevention and reduction of scarring in the skin, which can be caused by anything from accidents to cosmetic surgery. But Renovo is also developing drugs to tackle scarring in the eye (which can cause hazy vision, starbursts and even blindness), and in severed nerves (which can inhibit movement and sensation), among a host of other regenerative drugs that will help to improve the lives of millions of people around the world. And this is happening just off Oxford Road in Manchester.

"Why here?" I ask. Prof. Ferguson has clearly been asked this question before. "The pragmatic reason is that I was employed as a professor at the University of Manchester, so I was already based here. But there are many advantages to Manchester as a city in which to run a biotech company.

"First of all we have no problem recruiting staff at all levels. There's the university base and there are also pharmaceutical companies close by, for example AstraZeneca in Alderley Edge, so people can move between companies.

"And we don't have a problem convincing people from all over the world to move and work here because this is such a dynamic city with good employment prospects, excellent communications and lots of different, wonderful places to live - from the Peak District to Manchester city centre. This is why we have been able to recruit people like Andrew Kay, our commercial director, who was previously the head of global sales and marketing for Novartis in Switzerland.

"Manchester City Council has also been very supportive and in general there is a very progressive can-do atmosphere around Manchester. So although we could have moved at many points, we made the decision to stay here."

Renovo is growing fast and looking at possibly opening a base in North America at some point in the future, but Prof. Ferguson says he has no plans of relocating.

"We run a global operation from Manchester - we develop drugs that we will sell all over the world. And my experience of the investors is that so long as the business is functional they do not mind where it is."

Prof. Ferguson's loyalty to Manchester is great news for the city, which is keen to develop its knowledge-based economy.

"I think Renovo is a good example of how you can form a successful company based on knowledge that was discovered in the academic sector and turn new discoveries into new commercial opportunities," he says.

"Pharmaceutical drugs that prevent scarring are very useful to people all over the world and they can be very profitable, which is very good for the company and for the local economy.

"And there are also some interesting spin-offs for the city. The global head of private equity in the health care area at JP Morgan, for example, who runs a $1 billion fund, comes to Manchester regularly now because he's discovered that it's easier to fly to the UK through Manchester than it is through Heathrow."

Companies like Renovo are helping to put Manchester on the map, helping the city re-emerge as an international innovation centre. But they are also there to remind us of our proud history.

Prof. Ferguson explains: "The city that launched the industrial revolution has a long history of academic excellence and innovation in medicine and science. This is where John Dalton first presented his Atomic Theory and Ernest Rutherford split the atom. The Lovell Telescope put Manchester on the astronomy map and let's not forget the invention of the first computer here is 1948.

"Medical discoveries made in Manchester include artificial hips and in vitro fertilization (IVF)."

"IVF was discovered in Manchester?" I ask incredulously. Prof. Ferguson bursts out laughing. "You didn't know that, did you?"

"No, I didn't," I admit, hanging my head in shame.

"Yes, the first IVF patient was actually treated in Oldham, but not many people know that and there are two reasons for this," he says. "Firstly, we sometimes don't make as much of our achievements as other people might and secondly, most of the exploitation of our discoveries has typically been done elsewhere by multinational companies. So people often forget where the original invention was made.

"The trick is, when you're making your discoveries, to not only have the academic and clinical excellence but also the commercialisation excellence. So I would hope that at least with the scarring pharmaceuticals people will associate both the academic invention and the industrial commercialisation with Manchester because they know that Renovo is based here. And I hope to see more companies exploit discoveries in biomedicine to develop treatments in fields like cancer, arthritis, asthma etc."

So there you have it. A new direction for the original modern city. A new opportunity to make its mark on the world. And Prof. Ferguson's prognosis of the future is good.

"I think clearly the way forward in the future will be more of what is called the knowledge-based economy, from management services to computing and pharmaceuticals. You're not going to compete with cheap labour abroad so in order to compete on a global level you have to be at the high-value end of things and Manchester has a raft of opportunities to do that."

Manchester has the opportunities because it has the people who create them. From Elizabeth Gaskell to Noel Gallagher and from LS Lowry to Sir Bernard Lovell, the city has never been short of great personalities. The original modern city has been built on the backs of its original modern thinkers, inventors, innovators, entrepreneurs and artists.

"Who is the ultimate original modern Mancunian of all time?" I ask Prof. Ferguson, praying he won't give me the name of some Nobel prize-winning Mancunian scientist I have never heard of.

"John Dalton," he replies. (Phew) "He was an excellent scientist, who is very clearly associated with Manchester. At his funeral there were thousands of common people from Manchester, which tells you he had a big impact on the city."

I wonder if some future scientist, asked the same question by some future journalist, answers "Mark Ferguson". Hmmm?

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