Decapitation

Britain's biotech sector looks increasingly like it's becoming the research subsidiary of the U.S. biotech industry, as yet another of its most prominent private biotech companies lurches westwards across the Atlantic. While the U.K. government and its regional development agencies have been keen to support the sector, the decision by some leading companies to relocate management responsibilities Stateside is not yet sounding alarm bells in the corridors of power.

Last week, Cyclacel Ltd. (Dundee, U.K.) unveiled plans to reverse merge into Xcyte Therapies Inc. (XCYT, Seattle, Wash.), establish its headquarters in Short Hills, N.J., where Cyclacel has had its U.S. base, while retaining its British R&D operations in Dundee and Cambridge and shutting down operations in Seattle. It will be renamed Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals Inc...