Square Mile BSMG lands pan-Europe biotech job

Biotech group Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT) has awarded a

pan-European account to City PR firm Square Mile BSMG.

The account was won following a four-way competitive pitch, including

four-year incumbent HCC De Facto.

CAT, which has a pounds 500m market cap, has tasked Square Mile's life

sciences team with handling all financial PR and IR in the UK and

Europe.

Square Mile director Kevin Smith and chairman Tim Jackaman lead the

account, reporting to CAT head of corporate communications Rowena

Gardner.

Smith said the agency will use parent company BSMG's German network for

European PR, with possible help from sister agencies in Italy and

France.

The remit includes media and IR, financial calendar work and liaising

with analysts.

'Our brief is to really develop the company's financial communications

and target key financial audiences,' said Smith.

Gardner said this is the first major European PR push CAT has invested

in.

'We have an increasing global investment business and a very global

business in terms of the biotechnology industry and there are some key

countries in Europe where there's either biotechnology activities or

interest from investors,' she said.

CAT is currently listed on the London Stock Exchange and is looking to

list on the Nasdaq in the US, although no date has been set.

Based in Cambridge, the firm uses its proprietary technologies in human

monoclonal antibodies for drug discovery and development.

It has four products in clinical development, the most advanced being

for rheumatoid arthritis.