Boris Johnson urges €14bn ‘megafund’ to aid UK biotech

London Mayor Boris Johnson is proposing a £10bn (€14bn) fund to encourage growth of emerging healthcare companies in the UK in an effort to catch up to biotechnology clusters in the US.

The so-called megafund, which was being discussed yesterday with banks and drugmakers including Eli Lilly and Pfizer, may be created by a mix of debt and equity finance, the mayor’s office said in a statement. A programme y established by the EU and the European Investment Bank to make more than €24bn available over the next seven years may also be tapped.

“London is one of the most powerful scientific discovery engines in the world,” Johnson said in the statement.