BioWorld International Correspondent

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Europe's €7 billion (US$10 billion) a year research program lacks strategy and systems for assessing its effectiveness, according to a report released by the European Union's internal auditors.

The evaluation system "was of limited usefulness" to policymakers, stakeholders, or even the EU itself, the auditors found. "Ultimately, little is known about the achievement of program objectives and the results of the programmes," they said.

Biotechnology is one of the principal beneficiaries of the EU's research support, with more than $1.5 billion a year provided for health, biotechnology and nanotechnologies. The current program, finalized a year ago, will run until 2013, with a total budget of about $70 billion.

According to the auditors' report, "the lack of an explicit intervention logic and the presence of poorly defined programme objectives and weak performance measurement undermined effective monitoring and evaluation." In addition, the absence of a comprehensive evaluation strategy "resulted in inconsistent approaches."

The panels of external high-level experts that the EU uses "were not involved early enough in the process to influence evidence collection and had only limited possibilities to follow up relevant issues over time," the report said.

The auditors complained that inadequate methodological guidance was provided, evaluators found difficulties in gathering relevant data and there were no evaluation studies that addressed the longer-term outcomes and impacts of the program.

A Good Year For Belgian Biotech

The aggregate market value of the six young Belgian biotechnology firms quoted on the Brussels stock market was €1.18 billion by the end of 2007, despite overall weak performance by the market and by the biotech sector in particular. Galapagos and Devgen came onto the market in 2005, Oncomethylome and Thrombogenics in 2006 and Tigenix and Ablynx in 2007.

Local analysts have been expressing optimism for the sector. "2007 was an excellent year in terms of progress in research programs and new cooperation agreements," according to Louis de Thanhoffer of the Belgian broker Petercam. Analysts pointed in particular to Galapagos' deals with Eli Lilly & Co., GlaxoSmithKline and Janssen, and to Ablynx' tie-in with Boehringer Ingelheim toward the end of the year, which could generate more than $1.5 billion for the Belgian company.

At the same time, Tigenix raised nearly $60 million and Ablynx more than $100 million on the stock market, and Devgen and Thrombogenics each raised about $40 million through private placements.

The past year also saw the emergence of Belgium's first investment fund devoted specifically to biotech - Vesalius launched with about $70 million at its disposal, and a goal of doubling that by early 2008. Its founder, Alain Parthoens, predicted that 2008 will be even better, as the companies in the sector become even more business-oriented and as their products come closer to the market.