2000 was a year of growth and investment for our company. Our Imaging business, driven by our portfolio of patented medical diagnostic products, grew operating profits 14 per cent. In our Life Sciences business, responding to the new opportunities in unravelling functional biology, we increased our research and development investment 35 per cent. The overall result of our global efforts saw turnover, driven by innovation, up 10 per cent and earnings per share up eight per cent.

2000 was also a year when our strategic focus on molecular medicine delivered two firsts in the advancement of medical science. In life sciences, Amersham Pharmacia Biotech’s MegaBACE™ sequencer – the first in a new generation of high-throughput sequencers – played a vital role in delivery of three out of the first four chromosomes to be sequenced. Whilst the understanding of our genetic inheritance factor will transform medicine, Nycomed Amersham Imaging’s introduction of DaTSCAN™, the world’s first molecular diagnostic product for the objective diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, improves our understanding of this illness and should serve as the watershed, aiding the development of new therapeutic approaches .

The mapping of the human genome in the year 2000 galvanised a change in the scientific vision of the world’s political leaders. In medicine we are moving from a twentieth century model of treating disease by delivering approximate medicine for the average person, towards the new paradigm for the new millennium – personalised medicine for the individual. We are privileged in this year’s Annual report to include contributions from several of the world’s leading medical scientists on the implications of molecular medicine and their vision of the future.

Our strategy of enabling molecular medicine is evolving. The partial flotation of Amersham Pharmacia Biotech is a key part of ensuring its contribution to science, its value to our company and enhances our opportunity to build this important long term strategic business.

At the same time our technology platforms and state of the art skills in functional biology that the team in life sciences have delivered are now part of a corporate initiative to study the genetic basis of disease, and its implications in prognosis and diagnosis. To this end we made an early stage investment of £4 million in the use of genomic-based platforms to carry out the in-depth profiling of disease – looking first at prostate cancer. This initial investment in disease profiling will serve as an important model system, allowing us to understand how we evolve our already strong medical diagnostics business into the increasingly important future markets of personalised medicine.

Success from these new investments is dependent on the potential power of super computing and the inventiveness of a new breed of functional biologists. The ability to patent the applications of genetic understanding are vital if man is to gain the full value from the Book of Life. In 2000 we have continued to invest in protecting our new innovations by enforcing our patents. We were successful in resolving a key dispute involving the use of ultrasound technology in our Imaging business and we made satisfactory progress in our important litigation in the area of sequencing dyes.

Our business has made great strides over the last three years in terms of transforming itself into a force for innovation. We work in many different national cultures with a breadth of different competencies. My thanks go to all of our 8,900 employees around the world who have delivered for us a successful and truly global business.

Finally, before reviewing the business in detail it is important to note the strengthening of our management team. Andrew Carr, who succeeds Ron Long, has been appointed Chief Executive of Amersham Pharmacia Biotech and is establishing his corporate offices in Piscataway, New Jersey. George Battersby joins the corporate team as Group Human Resources Director. These colleagues, along with John Padfield and Giles Kerr, have considerably strengthened and broadened their executive teams, building for us the capacity to take on bigger challenges in the future.

The Chief Executive's business review continues on the next page >>
(page 1 of 7)